Beauty Knows No Rivalry
by sphinx005
Summary: Tammy Duncan is attending Eden Hall on a figure skating program, little does she know that her childhood crush and old hockey team are also attending. What happens when they find out that the boy Tammy's dating is one of their biggest rivals?
1. Oblivious Arrivals

**Tammy Duncan finds herself at Eden Hall Academy for a figure skating program along with her best skating friend Rebecca "Bec" Carter. Little does she know that her childhood crush and her old pee wee hockey team are also attending Eden Hall. What's worse, is that she finds herself alienated by her old hockey team when they find out who's she's dating.**

**DISCLAIMER - I don't own any Ducks characters, maybe a few OCs but I doubt they have much of a monetary value. Hope you enjoy.**

* * *

"So this is Eden Hall huh?" Tammy Duncan dropped her equipment bag to take in the view of her new school.

"Yeah I guess. Looks like every other rich preppy school to me" Rebecca "Bec" Carter observed clearly unimpressed by the rich preppiness that seemed to flow from every fibre of the place. If it were up to her, she'd be back in the comfort of California.

"Well here we go" Tammy said picking up her bag once again. It struck her as odd that no one was acting as chaperone for the pair as they were still only fourteen.

"Do you know anyone who goes here?" Bec asked knowing that Tammy was originally from Minnesota.

"Nope, maybe a guy named Adam from my pee-wee hockey team but anyone else I knew back then would be in public school" Tammy replied. Since being forced to quit hockey after winning the state championship to move to California to focus on her figure skating, she hadn't had much time to keep up to date with anything else, let alone _anyone_ else.

"I guess we'd better find some preppy snobs to tell us where the hell the Dean's office is then" Bec scanned the area for any sign of the student body.

"Great, look a crowd of jocks" she groaned upon seeing a large group of males wearing red and white lettermen jackets.

"Are you girls lost?" the captain of whatever team it was spoke. Tammy knew he was the captain because he had a large "C" stitched onto his jacket.

"Yeah um could you tell us where the Dean's office is please?" Bec spoke to the tall dark haired captain. As much as she disliked jocks, they still had to find out where the Dean's office was.

"I'll go one better and take you there myself" he replied with a smile.

"Thanks" Tammy piped up. She couldn't believe how nice these guys were being to them on their first day. She was expecting everyone to give the new girls a hard time.

"I'm Rick Riley. This is Scooter Vanderbilt and you girls are?" Rick extended his hand out to Tammy whilst Scooter extended his out to Rick.

"I'm Tammy, that's Bec" Tammy shook his hand.

"Tammy and Bec huh? Well this way ladies the Dean awaits" Rick steered the girls towards a large stone building.

"So what brings you girls to Eden Hall?" Rick asked as he and Scooter escorted the girls down the hall.

"Figure skating" Bec replied.

"Nice" Rick replied impressed. He loved watching girls figure skate in their tight little outfits. It was more fun than watching the cheerleaders jump up and down in short skirts.

"What sport do you play?" Tammy asked wondering which team the two boys were from.

"Hockey, I'm the captain of the Varsity team and Scooter here is our unstoppable goalie. We've won three consecutive state championships for Eden Hall"

"That's great. I haven't played hockey in years" Tammy replied. _Great, this had to be a hockey school. We'll hardly get any rink time_ she thought to herself.

"You play hockey?" Rick asked looking up and down at the tiny blond.

"Not since pee-wees" Tammy replied knowing what Rick was thinking.

"Maybe we should organise a little one on one scrimmage if you're interested" he asked.

"Sure why not" Tammy agreed. This guy was being so nice to her and she did have a sudden yearning to pick up a stick again.

"Well here we are. If you need anything just ask for Rick Riley and I'll come and help you out" Rick held the door open for the girls to enter the office.

"Nice to meet you ladies" Scooter did a little bow to them as they walked past.

"Same to you" Tammy and Bec replied giggling a little. Boys in California were so different.

"Well that was kinda weird" Tammy whispered to Bec who agreed.

"I think you just accepted a date with Mr Varsity Captain by the way" Bec nudged Tammy in the side.

"I what? Aw crap! I just wanted to see if I could still play hockey" Tammy felt a little disappointed and excited at the same time, if that was at all possible. Her first day as a Freshman in a new school and she already had a date with what appeared to be one of the popular guys in school.

"Well he is kinda cute you know" Bec ribbed.

"Shut up!" Tammy was blushing.

"Ms Duncan, Ms Carter. Dean Buckley will see you now" the office assistant who's name tag read "Margaret Foster" ushered the girls into a rather large office. They were surprised to find no one in the room.

"What the hell is that?" Bec asked pointing to the large glass display case with what appeared to be an ant 'village' inside.

"Brazilian Fire Ants" a voice behind them made the girls jump.

"Ms Duncan, Ms Carter, I am Dean Buckley and welcome to Eden Hall. I trust you have all of your information packages?" Dean Buckley got right to the point.

"Yes sir" the girls replied.

"Excellent. Here are the keys to your dorm room. You will be rooming together since we only have the one room available as the other free room is now occupied by the only two girls on our new JV hockey team. I take it wont be a problem?" Dean Buckley asked.

"No sir" Tammy replied and Bec simply nodded.

"Excellent. I'll show you to your dorms and let you get settled in. we have a welcome back assembly in the auditorium at 9.00. I'll show you the building on the way. Are there any questions so far?" Dean Buckley asked.

"No sir" Bec replied and Tammy shook her head.

"Great then let's head off" Dean Buckley collected his coat and a folder of papers and led the girls out of the room.

* * *

Fulton Reed was angry. It was his Freshman year of high school and not only was he being dumped by their now former coach in a prep school. His best friend had turned around and decided he wanted to stay in Chicago rather than join the rest of the team at Eden Hall.

He lined up another puck and angrily took a swing at it. He winced when he saw it hit a familiar car.

"Sorry Mrs Conway!" he yelled to Casey Conway, mother of Charlie Conway, Captain of his hockey team, the Mighty Ducks.

Mrs Conway just waved with a smile and drove off.

"Hey Fulton have you ever considered shooting back into the alley instead of out at the street?" Charlie came up the alleyway hoisting his backpack further up onto his shoulder.

"Not really" Fulton replied truthfully.

They chatted for a few minutes mainly about Bombay bailing and Fulton dropped the news about Dean Portman staying in Chicago.

"What good is one bash brother? What am I now? Mr Bash the Bash Man?" he asked.

He lined up and took another swing and this time he hit someone. It was the Ducks' goaltender, Greg Goldberg, as he skated up the alleyway.

"Hey watch it"

"Sorry Goldie"

"Well that's great guys, now I have to be worried about being nailed off of the ice too. Why am I always getting shot at?" Goldberg asked seriously.

"Dude you're the goalie, deal" Fulton replied equally as serious.

"Thanks Fulton, that's real sensitive" Goldberg spat back out at him.

"You're welcome" Fulton grinned.

"Well come guys lets go, we wouldn't want to keep the preppy snobs waiting" Charlie had finished putting his skates on and they were ready to go and meet up with the rest of the team for the skate to their new school.


	2. Missed Spectacle

"This room is huge!" Tammy looked around the dorm room and smiled. The room she'd shared with Bec in California had been about a third of the size of this one.

"I know" Bec replied dumping her bag on the floor. Dean Buckley had long since left the girls to get settled in.

"So which bed do you want?" Tammy asked knowing that Bec was a little fussy about where she slept.

"That one" Bec pointed to the bed by the wall.

"Fine, I'll take this one" Tammy dumped her own bag on the bed by the window. She liked to see the moon through the window at night anyway.

"So lets get unpacked then" Bec indicated to the boxes that had been marked either "Tamara" or "Rebecca". Their ex-coaches in California had organised for their stuff to be shipped to Minnesota ahead of time.

"God I hate my name" Tammy cringed when she saw her full name printed on the box.

"Yeah me too" Bec agreed picking up a box with her name on it.

The girls set to work placing various posters on the walls and putting trophies, books, photos, cds, etc on the shelves.

Tammy paused when she pulled out an old photo of herself and her old Pee Wee hockey team, the Ducks, posing with their trophy after they'd won the State Championships.

She had forgotten all about this photo. Smiling she placed it up on the shelf next to her bed.

"Tam what time is it?" Bec asked knowing Tammy would be the one out of the pair who actually bothered to wear a watch.

"Nine thirty, why?"

"Shit didn't the Dean say there was an assembly at nine?" Bec smacked her forehead in realisation.

"Oh crap! Let's go" Tammy dropped whatever she was holding on the bed and raced out the door with Bec in tow.

They reached the building that Dean Buckley had pointed out to them earlier and were surprised to find that the doors were locked.

"Now what do we do?" Tammy asked hoping she wasn't going to get into trouble on her first day.

"Wait out here and try to blend with the others when they come out?" Bec suggested.

"I guess" Tammy replied and sat down on the grass waiting for the doors to be opened again.

* * *

After what seemed like an eternity, the girls heard chairs scraping on the wooden floor and a stampeded of footsteps as the students at Eden Hall exited the building. 

"Hey there's Rick" Bec informed Tammy as they scanned the crowd looking for a place that didn't have them standing out like dog's balls.

"Rick" Bec cried out dragging Tammy into the crowd behind her.

"Hey I was hoping to see you two again" Rick grinned as he stopped and waited for the girls to catch up.

"Did you see the spectacle the new JV Hockey team made in there?" Rick asked with an obvious look of distaste on his face.

"No we um kinda missed the assembly by accident" Bec whispered hoping no one important like, say Dean Buckley was standing behind them.

"No kidding? Well the school has brought in a new JV team that has kicked the others out of hockey, including my younger brother, and if that wasn't enough they actually pulled the stage apart as they fell over each other. I've never seen such idiots in all of my life" Rick explained as they walked along.

It didn't escape Tammy's attention that his hand had been placed on her lower back as he guided her across the lawn.

"Wow" Tammy replied.

"And I seen that Latino kid eyeing up Mindy" an enormous blond guy cut in.

"Tammy, Bec, this is Biff Cole my vice-captain" Rick introduced the new stranger to the girls.

"Hi" the girls said politely.

Tammy couldn't help but wonder if he was missing a few brain cells. Must be from too much hockey.

"So what's your first class then?" Rick ignored Cole's whining about Mindy. Didn't Cole realise that his own girlfriend was actually _Cindy_ and that Rick and _Mindy_ had broken up last week.

Besides, he thought Tammy was a much prettier girl.

Tammy peeked at her schedule and made a face "Ugh American History" she winced. She hated all kinds of history. Too many names, faces and dates to remember.

"Let me see" Rick gently took the schedule from her.

"Wow, you're a Freshman?" he asked amazed. Tammy sure didn't look like a Freshman to him. Not that it mattered anyway.

"Yeah why do you have a problem with that?" Tammy asked hoping her new friend wasn't about to hold it against her.

"No of course not. Just surprised is all. You look way too pretty to be a Freshman" Rick smiled.

Tammy blushed "Um, okay. Thanks" she said taking her class schedule back.

"What about you Bec?" Scooter asked the other girl out of politeness. He found it all too cliché to hook up with the friend of the girl Rick was interested in.

Besides, he was pretty sure he'd just met his match during the assembly in the form of a female hockey player from the new JV team.

"Same as Tammy. I guess they thought it'd be a great idea to keep us together" Bec replied.

"I have English near there so I'll walk you" Rick held his arm out for Tammy.

"Sure, thanks Rick" Tammy accepted his arm happily.

If only her mother could see this. She'd have the biggest fit of her life.

Tammy could almost hear the lecture now.

_Tamara you mustn't let a boy distract you from your skating. You've worked too hard and come too far to ruin it for a little fling._

Complete that with the standard waving of the index finger and the disapproving clicking noise from her mouth and we'd have a winner.

"Come on then that was the warning bell" Rick led the two girls back towards the building that held their classroom.

"I'll come get you after class okay?" Rick promised Tammy before he gently grabbed her hand and raised it to his lips kissing it.

"Okay" Tammy managed to stammer out. She knew she was turning bright red. She never in a million years imagined her first day of school would be like this.

* * *

"Dude I can't believe we totally got called to the principal's office on our first day. That's like a new record or something" Fulton high-fived Charlie. 

"Fulton it's nothing to laugh about" Ken Wu said very seriously.

"Lighten up little Bash Bro, they wanted us here so badly then they can put up with a few of our tricks right guys?" Fulton was full of the confidence that Charlie had whilst in Dean Buckley's office.

"Russ I cant believe what you said to him, that was so funny!" Julie Gaffney was still laughing at Russ' 'and you're the Queen?' comment to Dean Buckley.

"Yeah Russ that was gold!" Averman patted Russ Tyler on the back.

"I try" Russ replied modestly whilst grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"So where the hell are we going?" Connie Moreau asked looking around completely lost.

"Beats me, I think I've got Biology next" Charlie replied.

"Me too" Adam Banks was looking at his schedule.

It turned out that Fulton, Connie, Guy Germaine, Averman, Ken and Goldberg were in the same class.

Dwayne, Russ, Luis and Julie were in the American History class.

"Well we'll see you guys at lunch. Don't work too hard preppies!" Russ laughed mainly taking a friendly dig at Adam's sweater vest, shirt and tie.

"Eat me Tyler" Banks called back causing the rest of the Ducks to stop dead in their tracks.

"Okay who's been teaching the Cake-Eater to trash talk cos whoever you are you need to work on your skills!" Russ laughed before adjusting his backpack and leading the others down the hall towards their class.

"You'll get him next time Adam" Connie patted his shoulder sympathetically.

"Yeah right, Russ is the King of trash talking. He even beats Jesse" Adam said referring to their ex-team mate Jesse Hall who couldn't attend Eden Hall because of a family emergency.

"True" Guy agreed and Connie swatted him on the shoulder.

"What?" he snapped. Since they'd broken up over the summer things weren't quite so friendly between them.

"Could you at least pretend to be supportive?" Connie hissed before storming off with Charlie and Fulton in tow.

"I swear to God I'll kill her before hockey season even starts" Guy said to Averman.

"Please don't we kinda need our team all intact" Goldberg said dragging the others along.

None of them knew just how right Goldberg really was.

* * *

**GALINDAPOPULAR - it was actually Princess H's stories that inspired me to do a Tammy/Fulton (so did Hiding in the Shadow's 'Life's Full of Little Surprises')**

**HIDING IN THE SHADOW - I thought a nice little Rick/Tammy/Fulton triangle would make for a spectacular fight. Fulton's so gonna be pissed off when he finds out! (BTW, your fic was a little inspiration for this, together with 'Beauty & the Bash Brother')**

**TORITHY - thanks for your review, glad you like it.**

**THANKS ALL FOR REVIEWING!**


	3. Old Crush vs New Crush

"Jesus Tammy please don't tell me you're falling for that knight in shining armour crap" Bec hissed to her friend as they sat down at an empty desk.

"NO!" Tammy was blushing profusely.

"Oooh! Someone's blushing!" Bec teased. She loved seeing the usual cool, calm and collected Tammy Duncan all flustered over a boy.

"What about you? I saw you making eyes at his friend, what was it Skater?" Tammy tried to recall the nickname of the other boy.

"His name was Scooter, you see unlike some, I remembered the names of both of them!" Bec laughed.

Tammy was about to respond when they were interrupted by another girl.

"Hi, um do you mind if I sit here?" a blond girl asked them.

"No go ahead" Tammy replied moving her bag so that the girl could sit next to her.

"Thanks, I'm Julie by the way" Julie introduced herself.

"I'm Tammy and this is Bec" Tammy smiled.

"Nice to meet you both" Julie said before turning her attention to getting her books out of her bag.

"Same to you" Tammy said before returning her attention back to Bec. They would have looked plain stupid just staring at each other without anything to say other than their introductions.

She glanced back at Julie and thought she looked vaguely familiar, so did the tall boy in the cowboy hat next to her. Come to think of it, so did the rest of the people Julie seemed to know.

Any further thoughts on how she knew these people were squashed when their teacher entered the room and began the first lesson of their freshman year.

* * *

"So how was Martin's class?" Rick was leaning against the wall next to the door when Tammy and Bec exited the classroom.

"Brutal, is it even possible to receive that much homework on the first lesson on the first day?" Bec complained trying to suppress a smirk when Rick slung an arm around Tammy's shoulders. She made no move to remove it either.

"In Martin's class, anything is possible" Rick laughed gently as he acknowledged a couple of students in the hallway with a nod of his head.

Tammy was blushing profusely. Every girl was staring at her as she walked past with Rick. She wasn't used to this much attention in school, not since….

"_So how did the game go last night Spazzway? Did you score?" ten year old Peter Mark asked Charlie Conway._

"_Leave me alone guys, I don't want to talk about the team" Charlie replied trying to get on with his work._

"_Yeah sure, Coach's pet. Everyone knows he likes you the best" Peter retorted._

"_Likes his mom you mean" Karp piped up._

"_You take that back Karp, take it back!" Charlie stood up and shoved Karp._

"_Hey don't shove him" Connie Moreau stood up and shoved Charlie. Charlie shoved her back and Guy Germaine stood up._

_  
"Hey!" _

_An all out war broke out and Tammy tried not to roll her eyes when her brother Tommy threw the atom balls at the group then promptly hid under his desk. He was such a wimp!_

_The entire team got detention for that. Not that she cared, she got to spend an afternoon with Fulton Reed._

"Tammy are you okay?" Rick asked her with concern in his brown eyes.

"Huh?" Tammy was brought out of her daydream.

"I asked if you were okay, you looked a little out of it for a second there" Rick smiled gently.

"Yeah I'm fine, sorry, just spaced out for a sec" Tammy offered an apologetic smile.

"Okay, good, listen I've got hockey practice in half an hour so I have to go but can I come find you tomorrow?" Rick asked flashing her a perfect white smile.

"Sure" Tammy found herself saying. This guy seemed really nice and she was starting to enjoy his attention.

"Great, see you then. Bye Bec" Rick waved and strode off down the hallway.

"Bye" Bec replied and turned to her friend.

"You are so blushing!" she laughed as Tammy turned to stare at her wide eyed.

"Shut up!" Tammy playfully slapped her friend.

"Come on lets go find something to do" Bec pulled her friend along.

* * *

"Fulton what is with you lately? You seem so depressed" Connie Moreau asked her long time friend.

"I'm fine" Fulton tried his hardest not to snap. For two reasons being 1, he knew Connie was just trying to be a good friend and 2, if he did snap at her she'd have no problem in ripping his balls of and feeding them to him.

"Are you just missing Portman?" Connie asked softly as she plopped down on the sofa with the Bash Brother and laid her head on his shoulder. Connie and Julie both had that platonic kind of relationship with the male Ducks. If Fulton was honest with himself, it was kind of comforting. Usually girls were scared of him.

"Yeah kind of" Fulton replied wondering if he should confide in Connie about the _other_ person who he'd been missing. He'd been missing her since the day she broke his heart by announcing she was quitting their team and moving to California to pursue figure skating.

He decided against it. It was too painful for him to even think about. Besides, it wasn't like there was anything going on between them to confide about.

Fulton sighed and threw his arm around Connie as they both settled back to watch the movie they had loaded into the machine. Maybe a few solid hours of mindless comedy might take him away from the suckiness that was his life lately.

No best friend, no hockey coach and no girlfriend, well Tammy Duncan was never his girlfriend but it didn't stop him from wishing like mad she was.

He tried to watch the movie but he couldn't concentrate, instead he found his mind wandering to the past…..

"_Guys this is Fulton Reed, most of you would know him and he's joining the team. Unfortunately, Fulton has a slight problem that we're all gonna help him with. He's not a very strong skater. So who's up for a trip to the Mall of America?" Coach Bombay laid out the plan for their training session that day._

_Fulton had never been so embarrassed in his life. These kids were supposed to be scared of him, not become his teacher! _

"_Hi guys sorry we're late!" _

_Fulton whipped his head around in time to see an extremely short red-headed boy stride into the room followed by a girl who almost took his breath away._

_She was tall, graceful, beautiful, everything he wasn't. Well except for the tall part._

"_Its alright, we're just on the way to the Mall of America for some skating practice, you guys up for that?" Bombay asked excitedly. _

_Wait a second, Fulton thought, isn't he gonna introduce me to that goddess over there?_

_I guess not, Fulton came to the conclusion when the team left the locker room, chatting excitedly about their upcoming trip._

_It was her who introduced herself to him._

_He was flanked by her and the other girl on the team._

"_Hi I'm Connie" the pretty brunette girl extended her hand and Fulton shook it awkwardly. Anything formal tended to do that to him._

"_Um, hi" Fulton replied._

_Satisfied that she'd gotten acquainted with her new teammate Connie took off in search of the blond kid with the weird hat._

"_I'm Tammy, um Tammy Duncan" Fulton almost fell flat on his face when he heard her voice._

_She was actually talking to him!_

"_I….um…..I'm Fulton" Fulton felt like such a dickhead for stuttering._

"_I know, I've seen you around school" she said almost shyly._

"_You go to Franklin Middle School?" Fulton asked amazed._

"_Yeah, I kinda keep to myself though. This is pretty much the first time people have noticed me enough to ask me to join their team" she replied._

_Fulton was amazed she'd just revealed something about herself._

"_Me too" Fulton admitted. As much as he liked to be feared, it meant that you didn't have to let people in that way, it was nice to be welcomed as a part of something._

"_So you're having a little trouble skating are you?" Tammy must've noticed he'd stumbled a little._

"_You could say that" Fulton was turning a shade of red._

"_Need a little help?" she asked with a smile._

"_Sure" he replied._

"_Okay, bend your knees, that's it, now just hold on to me and you'll be fine" Tammy held out her gloved hand and he took it. His large hand engulfing her much smaller one._

"_See Fulton, you'll be a pro in no time!" Tammy grinned as they skated on to catch up to the rest of the team._

Fulton was broken out of his little daydream when he heard.

_Wait? Is that snoring?_ He thought as his eyes drifted down.

He almost burst out laughing when he saw that Connie had actually fallen asleep on him and was now in an almost peaceful slumber, snoring her head off.

Fulton gently laughed and took great care in removing her from his shoulder and gently placing her head down on the sofa. He laid her blanket over her gently and kissed her forehead before heading out the door and back to his own house.

"You're not staying for dinner Fulton?" Mrs Moreau asked him as he passed the kitchen.

"Not tonight Mrs Moreau, Connie fell asleep. Thanks for the offer though" Fulton said politely and continued on his way out of the house.

Mrs Moreau said goodbye to her daughter's friend and continued chopping the vegetables she would use in that night's meal.

_Those Ducks were lucky they had each other _Mrs Moreau thought about her daughters best friends in the entire world.

* * *

**okay so I threw in a little flashback from the first movie. I always thought that scene was hilarious!**

**HIDING IN THE SHADOW - yep you were partly inspirational, your stories are amazing! 'Pow-wow' - I love that saying, its so...what's the word...innocent and nanna-ish (which in my case is a good thing!)**

**SISSY-SARA88 - thanks, I'm glad you like it.**


	4. Practice Hell

**"_So what brings you here?" she asked the tall handsome hockey player standing before her._**

**"_I found out you were back and I had to come see you" he replied showing her the smile she'd loved for so long._**

**"_How'd you know?" she had to ask._**

**"_I could feel you close by" he said reaching his hand out to stroke her cheek._**

_**She closed her eyes, savouring his touch.**_

**"_I missed you" she said._**

**"_I missed you more" he replied leaning in to kiss her._**

_**Just as their lips were about to meet………………..**_

"Come on Tam, time for practice" Bec threw a pillow at her roommate.

Tammy groaned, she definitely wasn't a morning person. That and she'd just been interrupted from a fantastic dream.

"What time is it?" she asked her eyes not quite being able to focus on the face of the clock next to her bed.

"Three thirty" Bec grinned knowing Tammy would flip her lid any time now.

"IN THE MORNING?" she screeched.

"Yep, you know we can only have the ice at four am, what with all the hockey teams they have here" Bec rolled her eyes. It was the same everywhere they went, hockey always reigned over figure skating.

"Okay, okay, I'm up" Tammy threw the covers off of herself in an attempt to jolt herself awake with the sudden change in temperature.

"Here, I already packed your bag" Bec held up Tammy's purple gym bag.

"Thanks, you're a legend Bec" Tammy was grateful that Bec was on the ball. Well one of them had to be.

"I know, now come on lets go" Bec waited for Tammy to slip on her practice costume and a warm up suit and put her hair back in a low bun.

"Ugh, Bec there's no one even here!" Tammy complained when they arrived at the rink to find it empty save for the janitor who looked like he was fixing the hinges on the entrance gate.

"Its our first practice Tam, we have to at least be a little early" Bec told her as they put their skates on. It was a little too cold in the rink to discard their warm up suits just yet.

"Wow look at all those championship flags" Tammy was looking at the flags hanging around the walls of the rink indicating that the Eden Hall Warriors had won quite a few championships.

"They must be as good as Rick says they are" Bec too was looking around feeling a little impressed. Maybe she could snag herself a cute hockey player too.

They started off with two slow laps around the rink to get a feel for the ice.

"Its not bad hey Tam?" Bec was comfortable in her new environment.

"Yeah, better than the rink in Brentwood" Tammy replied. Even though Brentwood, California was a very exclusive area, their ice rink had sucked big time.

"Wanna give our old routine a run just for fun?" Bec asked with a glint in her eye.

"Sure" Tammy grinned.

Their 'old' routine was a routine that the girls had come up with themselves and nearly gave their coach a heart attack when they said it was gonna be used for their competitions.

At the very least it was designed to relax and recharge the girls before their gruelling practices and it worked every time.

The girls finished their little routine and laughed. It always put them in a good mood.

"I trust you girls can skate better than that" a snooty voice made them spin around.

They saw a petite black haired woman heading their way.

"I am Monique Marquardt, you coach. I expect you have warmed up already, yes?" she spoke with a slight European accent.

"Yes Coach" Bec and Tammy replied sensing this coach took no nonsense.

"Good, we shall begin" Coach Marquardt got right down to business.

* * *

"We have a figure skating team?" Connie Moreau asked the boys as she waited for the figure skaters to finish up their practice. It was the first of many 5 am practices for the Ducks and they were all still half asleep.

"Looks like it, I think one of them is that Riley idiot's girlfriend, I heard the cheerleaders talking about it yesterday" Luis piped up.

"Aw were you offering a shoulder to cry on Luis?" Julie laughed.

"Damn, now that you mention it, that's what I should have done" Luis smacked himself in the forehead and the Ducks all laughed.

"That blond girl's kinda hot" Russ spoke up.

"Not a bad skater either" Ken was watching the girls in admiration. Still hockey was his no. 1 priority right now.

"Hey maybe we should pull a Bombay and get them to join us like he did with Tammy and Tommy Duncan" Charlie laughed not realising that it was actually Tammy Duncan he was watching.

"Yeah new babes!" Goldberg mocked them from their pee wee days and the team started laughing.

"Come on guys, it looks like they've finished" Guy pointed to where the girls and their coach were exiting the rink on the other side.

The team entered the rink.

"Come on guys, the person who can beat Luis in a three lap race can have my lunch!" Goldberg announced and the team raced off. It was no secret that Goldberg's lunch had been packed by his mother who was a very talented cook.

"But what if I win?" Luis yelled back.

"You can have……..um……..my milk!" Goldberg shouted back. He knew that no one would beat Luis so he'd get to keep his lunch.

"What a rip off!" Luis yelled back but continued skating at a rapid pace nonetheless.

As Goldberg predicted, Luis won the race and got to keep his lunch.

"Aw no fair!" Connie cried as she leaned on Charlie's shoulder breathing heavily.

"That's cheating Goldberg!" Julie agreed as she leaned on Russ.

"Hey you're the ones who participated!" Goldberg declared.

"Lets get him!" Guy suggested but was cut off by Coach Orion's whistle.

"Goldberg your lunch is not a bargaining tool but thanks for getting them to work on their speed" Coach Orion actually paid a compliment for the first time since they'd met him.

"Any time Coach" Goldberg looked pleased with himself.

"Okay, speed aside, there's one thing we have to work on. Can anyone guess what it is?" he asked the team.

"Defence" the team replied knowing that this would be another gruelling practice session.

* * *

"They look like fun" Bec commented to Tammy as she watched the team race around the rink trying to catch the Latino boy.

"That's the JV team that Rick hates so much" Tammy replied evenly. She wasn't paying too much attention to the hockey team. She was too busy concentrating on getting the giant knot out of her laces so she could take her skates off and get some feeling back into her feet.

"What do you think of our Coach?" Bec asked.

"Seriously?" Tammy asked.

"Yes seriously" Bec affirmed.

"I think she's a slavedriver but as tough as its gonna be, I think she'll make us better skaters" Tammy replied truthfully.

"I agree" Bec said shoving her skates into her bag and wriggling her toes through her stockings. She couldn't wait to have a hot shower to soothe some of the aches she was experiencing.

"Ugh I am so sore!" Tammy replied standing up for the first time since practice ended and now she was feeling achy all over.

"Maybe Mr Varsity Captain can give you a massage" Bec teased.

"Maybe his dumb friend can give _you_ one" Tammy shot back and walked off with a smirk.

"Ouch!" Bec laughed cringing a little at the thought of Cole touching her.

Tammy was lost in thoughts of a hockey player massaging her aches but it wasn't exactly Rick Riley she was thinking about. You only need one guess to work it out.

* * *

**GALINDAPOPULAR - I figured since they'd have no idea who the other was, they could meet and Julie or Tammy wouldn't think anything of it.**

**HIDING IN THE SHADOW - I always got the impression in D3 that Connie/Guy had split up, especially since she was so bitchy to him. Was kinda dumb really since they were so like touchy feely in the first 2 movies then all of a sudden, nothing.**

**SISSY-SARA88 - Tammy will realise it soon, and when her and Fulton meet and he realises who she's dating it'll be on!**

**MAIBE JOSIE - I've already replied to you but thanks for your review, I hope I didn't sound rude or anything when replying, another thing that made me think they were freshman was the shaving cream message in the locker room when they found their clothes in the shower said "FRESHMAN STINK". A lot of things in the movies didn't make much sense really when you think about it, and I hated how half the original team just disappeared without any explanation (especially Terry Hall, um Jesse was in the 2nd movie and he was his brother). And where did Jesse go during D3? anyway thats my rant for now!!**

**PYELA - glad you're liking this fic.**

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, its really appreciated.


	5. Starbucks Tripping

After their first practice, Tammy took an extremely long, hot shower. Her mind was thinking a million thoughts a second. It had been like this ever since she set foot back in Minnesota.

_Should I try to find him?_

_And say what? Hey I'm some kinda weirdo stalker girl who's had a crush on you for three years but has never bothered to keep in touch cos I'm such a loser?_

_Yeah, way to go Tammy!_

"Tammy?" Bec called out wondering if Tammy had actually fallen asleep in the shower cubicle.

"Huh?" Tammy was snapped out of her little internal debate.

"Are you done? I can hear the hockey team finishing up and the girls won't be too happy if you use all the hot water" Bec didn't feel like having a run in with the girls on the hockey team following her first practice.

"Yeah coming" Tammy rinsed the final traces of her body wash from her skin and shut the taps off. She immediately wrapped a big fluffy towel around herself and exited the cubicle.

"Geez Tam I was starting to wonder whether you'd drowned in there" Bec joked as she sat on the bench across from Tammy full dressed. She pulled her compact out and started applying some moisturizing cream to her face.

"You're so funny" Tammy rolled her eyes sarcastically and reached for her clean underwear from her bag.

Bec finished rubbing the cream into her face and reached into her bag for her cell phone.

"No way!" she exclaimed staring into the phone's screen.

"What?" Tammy paused for a brief moment as she was putting one leg into her tight black pants.

"Jason called me while we were training" Bec said obviously pleased.

"Bec NO! if you call that asshole back I will kick your butt back to California and never speak to you again" Tammy threatened.

Jason was Bec's ex-boyfriend. He was one nasty character and Tammy could never ever work out why Bec went running back to him each time, only to have him do something that was even worse than the last time and break her heart all over again.

"But what if" Bec started sounding hopeful.

"No what if? Bec you know he's gotten himself into trouble yet again and needs you to bail him out. Let him rot in jail for once. You seriously don't need that asshole ruining your life" Tammy's voice was a little gentler. She knew that Bec had seriously been in love with the guy.

"I guess you're right" Bec sighed and deleted the entry in her missed call log.

"Come on, lets do something to cheer you up!" Tammy suggested brightly.

"Go find some hot hockey players?" Bec suggested cheekily.

"If you have to I suppose but that wasn't what I was thinking" Tammy grinned. She mentally calculated that they had at least an hour and a half before school started.

Bec knew that grin well.

"Let's go!" she flashed a grin of her own.

* * *

"Fulton seriously, its not that bad" Charlie was trying to reason with his friend.

"Not that bad, did you hear what I said?" Fulton was in a state of disbelief. How could Charlie still think everything was going to be a-okay?

"Yes, I heard you the first twenty times you've said it" Charlie replied obviously running out of patience.

"And you still think we'll survive? You've heard the stories Charlie, and without Portman I can't protect all of you" Fulton was worried.

"We'll just learn to protect ourselves Fulton, Varsity can't be that tough, I'm sure its all just talk" Charlie was trying to convince his friend.

He was getting worried, it was so out of character for Fulton to be even a little intimidated by another team, but he guessed it would feel daunting when the only other person on the team who possessed the same level of enforcing skills as he did decided to bail.

"Yeah sure, just talk" Fulton was ending the conversation even though he wasn't as sure as Charlie seemed to be about it.

"Come on, you know what you need?" Charlie's eyes brightened.

"If you say icecream I'm gonna kill you" Fulton glared.

"No, come on, grab your blades" Charlie grinned.

Fulton stared at him in shock. They couldn't go for a blade at six thirty in the morning could they? It was still a little dark outside for crying out loud.

"Come on Reed, lets hit it!" Charlie wasn't gonna be stopped.

"Fine" Fulton resigned and followed Charlie out of the rink.

* * *

"See isn't this better?" Tammy called out to Bec as they skated through the dark, empty streets of Minneapolis.

"Much better!" Bec called back breathing in the fresh air. In LA they wouldn't have dreamed of doing this out on the open streets but from the safety of their enclosed school grounds it had been their favourite past time on the west coast.

There was something really exhilarating in skating around in the early hours of the morning when the air was at its freshest and everyone else tucked up in their beds fast asleep.

"Hey what are you ladies doing out here so early in the morning?" a familiar voice came from behind them and the girls spun around to face the entire Varsity hockey team and Rick Riley smiling warmly at them.

"Just relaxing, what about you?" Tammy asked wondering why the whole team were out on the streets together.

"Coach Wilson postponed practice until this afternoon so we thought we'd get Starbucks. You two care to join us?" Rick asked hopefully.

Tammy and Bec exchanged glances.

"Sure" Bec agreed suddenly forgetting all about Jason's missed call.

"This way then ladies" Rick held his hand out to Tammy and she accepted it. They skated along hand in hand with Bec not far behind them.

When they reached their destination the boys entered the coffee house to place their orders whilst the girls took a table out front. The smell of coffee was overwhelmingly strong for Tammy and when asked by Rick whether she wanted anything she replied "hot chocolate please".

"So, you and Mr Hockey Captain look extremely friendly" Bec teased as they sat down at the table.

Tammy placed her leg out in front of her.

"So? He's really nice" she replied trying desperately not to blush. She seemed to be winning the battle, for now.

"For the record, you two do look pretty darn cute together" Bec laughed absentmindedly playing with the bowl of sugar sachets as she spoke.

"Really?" Tammy asked amazed that she could look 'cute' with another person.

"Really, the cheerleaders hate you so much right now" Bec laughed again.

"Oooh I'm scared!" Tammy laughed too stretching her other leg out.

Unfortunately as she did someone came skating around the corner and tripped over her feet causing the owner of the skates to go tumbling to the ground.

"Oh my God I am so sorry!" Tammy exclaimed jumping up and rushing over to the poor person she'd just maimed.

"Its okay really" the shy sounding voice responded but Tammy couldn't see his face.

"Jeez Reed, and you call _me_ Spazzway" Charlie rounded the corner in time to see Fulton sprawled out on the sidewalk and two girls fussing over him.

"Spazzway?" Tammy said aloud recognising the name.

"Long story don't ask" Charlie chuckled.

"Charlie?" Tammy was in disbelief. She was staring into the face of the teenage Charlie Conway.

"Tammy? Is that you?" Charlie's face kicked into a smile when he realised who she was.

"Yeah its me" Tammy suddenly felt like she couldn't breathe. If Charlie was standing there then the guy she'd tripped was.

"Fulton" she breathed the name aloud.

"Tammy" Fulton's voice was a little strained.

"Bec!" Bec declared her own name feeling a little left out of the name game.

Tammy was oblivious to anything else going on around her at that moment. All she could look at was the handsome dark haired boy in front of her.

Charlie nudged Bec and grinned.

"Oh my god is that _the_ Fulton?" Bec whispered.

"_The _Fulton?" Charlie whispered back confused for a second and then he got it.

"She likes him too?" Charlie felt like he'd just solved the million dollar puzzle.

"And here's one hot chocolate for the beautiful lady" Rick's voice interrupted the little reunion.

"Hey get the hell away from her" his voice turned dark when he spotted Fulton and Charlie.

"You get the hell away from her" Fulton replied back.

"Rick don't, its okay, it was my fault" Tammy snapped out of her trance and placed her hands on Rick's chest, gently guiding him back away from the two Ducks.

"Did he hurt you? I'm gonna kill you if you laid one finger on her" Rick was getting aggressive.

"No, Rick seriously, I accidentally tripped him, its all okay" Tammy was trying desperately to keep the situation calm. She didn't want to witness an all out brawl.

Fulton glared hard at Rick and then noticed the way he had an arm around Tammy's shoulders in an almost protective like manner.

He suddenly saw what was going on.

"Come on Charlie lets go" he said dusting himself off and skating away in the direction he'd come from.

"Yeah" Charlie said weakly glancing at Tammy and then at Bec before skating away behind Fulton.

"Are you okay?" Rick asked gently when the pair were out of sight.

"Yeah, I'm fine, really" Tammy gave him a weak smile.

"Sorry I got so angry, I thought that bully was giving you a hard time and I just saw red and flew off the handle" Rick apologised.

"It's okay, you were kinda sweet sticking up for me and all" Tammy realised that he wasn't being a jerk, he was just looking out for her.

"You think I'm sweet?" Rick flashed a sly grin.

Tammy kissed his cheek.

"Sometimes" she answered trying hard to forget about Fulton. He probably hated her now anyway.

* * *

**Sorry its taken a while to update, I kinda lost inspiration to continue for a couple of weeks (mainly because I've been sick and busy at work) but by no means will I leave this unfinished. Okay so they've now seen each other, uh oh Fulton knows Tammy's seeing Rick. I'm trying to show that Rick is a decent guy around others but turns nasty when it comes to the Ducks (I hope that's the way its being seen).**

**ALLSPARKS - thanks for your review**

**HIDING IN THE SHADOW - yeah Cole is kinda EW!! And now she's caught up with Charlie and Fulton...what's gonna happen now!**

**VIA - thanks for taking the time to review and telling me that you liked it. I'm glad people are enjoying this.**


	6. Can You Believe Her?

"Can you believe her? She's a Duck and she's dating Rick Riley!" Charlie exploded once they were out of earshot.

Fulton was being unusually quiet. He'd just had his heart ripped out, stomped on and handed back to him in tatters.

"Come on Fulton don't tell me you're actually okay with this" Charlie pressed on taking Fulton's silence as his agreement with the situation. He didn't realise that people could execute silent anger as opposed to his loud ranting anger.

"Charlie, just………shut up" Fulton finally said needing time to think about what had just happened.

"Um okay, not the reaction I was expecting" Charlie sounded a little put out.

"Sorry dude, its just that I'm as pissed off as you are but I don't want to talk about it right now" Fulton replied keeping his head down.

"Its cool man, lets just get back to campus" Charlie suggested picking up his pace a little. He'd never seen Fulton look quite so down before and it was starting to scare him a little.

Fulton nodded his agreement and followed his friend back to the lush grounds of Eden Hall. He hoped like hell she wasn't attending the school but the more he thought about it the more he was convinced of it.

"The blond figure skater" he said aloud.

"What?" Charlie asked wondering what Fulton was talking about.

"The blond figure skater we were checking out earlier, it was her" Fulton replied feeling sick to his stomach.

"Tammy?" Charlie asked for confirmation.

"Yeah"

"Oh" Charlie realised what this meant.

They skated on in silence for a few minutes.

"You don't have any classes with her do you?" Charlie asked.

"I dunno, not yet but I haven't had English yet" Fulton mentally checked his schedule.

"Well, here's hoping she's not in there" Charlie said passing through the front gates of Eden Hall.

"Yeah" Fulton smiled weakly. The last thing he needed was to be in the same room as Tammy Duncan for three lessons a week. it was bad enough knowing he was attending the same school as her.

* * *

"Why do I have the sinking feeling I've done something really horrible?" Tammy asked Bec as they gathered their things ready to attend their first lesson of the day.

"So I'm not the only one catching the whole weirdo vibe back there" Bec had sensed that something was going on between the people present at the little scene outside Starbucks.

"Yeah, its just, I thought they'd be happy to see me again you know, we did win the pee-wee championships together. I guess I just don't belong anymore" Tammy said sadly.

"Well at least they're not in school right, I mean we haven't seen them around campus yet" Bec didn't know that the emphasis on that simple sentence was the three little word beginning with a 'y'.

"You're right, they probably go to Jeffcott High" Tammy knew that Charlie and Fulton would rather be skinned alive than attend a private school.

"So what do you think the problem is?" Bec asked adjusting her ponytail and giving it one more flick before she was satisfied.

"I have no idea but it did seem like Rick knew Charlie and Fulton" Tammy replied wondering why she didn't ask Rick what was wrong. She just thought he was protecting her.

"Yeah I got that impression too" Bec said picking up her backpack and shooing Tammy out of the door.

"Well lets get ready for another day of torturous lessons" Bec laughed dragging her friend along with her.

"Speaking of torturous lessons, what's up first?" Tammy asked. Her and Bec had been placed in all of the same classes.

"English" Bec glanced at their schedule.

"I can deal with that" Tammy replied. English was one of her better subjects.

"Yep me too" Bec agreed and the two girls made their way towards their classroom.

* * *

"No freaking way!" Connie exclaimed staring at Charlie as if a second head had just sprouted from Charlie's shoulders.

"Yes freaking way, I couldn't believe it!" Charlie was glad he found someone who was just as outrageously and vocally shocked as he was.

"Who's Tammy Duncan?" Ken asked not having the slightest clue who they were talking about.

"She was on the team in District Five and Fulton had a major crush on her" Connie explained sweetly and Ken, along with Luis, Russ, Dwayne and Julie all nodded their heads.

"Had is not the word Cons, he still likes her" Charlie revealed and the rest of the Ducks looked bog-eyed.

"Really? Wow that blows" Julie replied.

"Tell me about it" Connie said and Charlie nodded his agreement.

"So do you think she goes here?" Connie asked. Charlie hadn't gotten to telling them about Fulton's figure skating theory.

"I think she might, Fulton's convinced she was that blond figure skater we saw yesterday" Charlie revealed.

"Oh my god!" Connie squeaked. Her and Tammy were sort of friends during the D5 days but she mostly hung out with Guy.

"I know, I honestly hope Fulton doesn't run into her again, he'll probably flip his lid" Charlie was acting like a concerned parent.

"Come on guys, I've got English first, anyone else?" Dwayne spoke up. He didn't like it when his friends got upset and he tried to change the subject.

"I do" Julie replied sensing where Dwayne was going with this.

"Anyone else?" Dwayne asked.

The rest of the team that were present shook their heads.

"Come on then Jules we don't want to be late" Dwayne stood and up waited for Julie to gather her things.

"See you guys at lunch" Julie called brightly hoping lunch wasn't going to be horrific.

"Bye Jules, later Dwayne" the team called after the pair as they walked off.

* * *

"Well would you look at that, we're the first ones here!" Bec laughed as her and Tammy arrived at the empty classroom.

"Where shall we sit?" Tammy asked feeling some small, if not meaningless, sense of empowerment at being able to choose which seat she sat in and having the pick from the entire classroom.

"Here looks good" Bec pointed to two seats next to each other in the second row from the back right in the middle.

"Looks good to me" Tammy said dumping her bag on her newfound desk.

The girls started to chatter about an upcoming shopping trip to the Mall of America on the weekend but were cut short when the bell rang and students poured into the classroom.

They noticed that the girl, Julie, they'd met the other day was in their class also but she sat with a tall boy wearing a cowboy hat which he respectfully removed when he sat down.

Tammy looked around at her new classmates. Most of them didn't really seem familiar but she noticed that there was one empty desk next to her.

_Well at least no one will copy off me from that side_ she thought when a late student grabbed her attention.

"Oh no" she must've said out loud at the same time Bec said "Oh boy"

The late student in question was Fulton Reed and of course he scowled at her when he saw that the only empty space was the one right next to her.

He made no attempt to conceal the fact that he was extremely pissed and he pretty much slammed his bag onto the floor and glared straight ahead with his jaw fixed.

Bec and Tammy saw Julie exchange a worried look with the Cowboy and offer a brief smile to Fulton who actually returned it for a second before scowling again.

"This sure is gonna be fun!" Bec commented sarcastically to Tammy ignoring the dirty look Julie was giving her.

"Yeah" Tammy said glumly trying to focus on the teacher standing at the front of the room.

_Fun indeed_ she thought.

* * *

**just to clear it up, they obviously had no idea the other was attending Eden Hall (they actually hadn't seen each other yet) and Tammy has no idea that the Ducks are the rival JV team that Rick hates so much.**

**HOCKEY-GIRL90 - thanks for the review, glad you like it**

**GALINDAPOPULAR - Tammy's got no clue in this matter, thanks for being glad I'm back!! I noticed that there weren't too many updates lately (and donuthole if you're reading this, PLEASE update your fic, its one of my favourites!!!) - but glad you updated Bring It On - that fics is so cool!**

**HIDING IN THE SHADOW - I never thought about making him do that, maybe I should huh?? Lets just say the ending of the movie will be different in this story (but Dean will still arrive!!)**

**CUPIDSANGEL - thanks for reviewing! **

**POLKADOT-SUNSTAR - maybe not soon, but MAYBE in the near future!!! (Sorry I'm just being plain mean now aren't I!!) Like I said earlier, the ending of the movie (and you might guess if you think about it) will be different.**

**thanks all who reviewed!**


	7. Does the Truth Hurt?

"Hey don't look so sad" Bec tried to cheer her friend up after class finished but it was no use. Tammy was down in the dumps and nothing was going to get her out of it.

She however briefly smiled when Rick caught up to them in the hallway and gave her a much-needed hug and a kiss on the cheek. As much as she'd been thinking about Fulton lately, she really did like Rick and he had been treating her very well and he deserved a chance.

It just sucked that her old friends now very obviously hated her guts.

Which was why she was way more than surprised when she sat down at the Varsity table with Rick and Bec and saw that Adam Banks was sitting next to Scooter eating his lunch slowly with his head down.

"Adam?" Tammy asked and he looked up.

His eyes grew wide.

"Tammy? What are you doing here?" his voice was barely above a whisper.

"Figure skating, are you on the Varsity team?" Tammy asked feeling like a ditz because why else would he be eating lunch with the Varsity team.

By this stage she'd drawn the attention of Cole and Rick.

"Yeah" he said softly and put his head back down.

"So tell me Tammy how do you know Banks here?" Cole smirked looking at his Captain.

Rick too was intrigued.

Adam thought quickly and responded before she could.

"Her brother used to play for the Hawks when I did" Adam replied quickly throwing Tammy a quick look that said _don't argue with me right now_.

"Is that so _Tammy_" Cole pressed on.

"Yeah, uh Tommy and Adam were good friends in pee-wees" Tammy only half-lied sensing that the little white lie would protect Adam for some strange reason.

"Your brother's name is Tommy and yours is Tammy?" Cole was being a jerk.

"Cole just shut it!" Rick snapped and Cole closed his mouth.

"Yes" Tammy answered anyway feeling the strain of several eyes watching her.

Bec looked from Adam to Tammy then to Rick and back to Tammy again. She knew something was severely up and that Tommy Duncan had _never_ played for the Hawks.

All three of them continued eating their lunch and ignoring the looks the rest of the team were giving them.

"Hey look there's that little Wu kid" Cole was the first one to speak.

"Leave him" Rick ordered and Cole sat back down giving Rick the death glare.

Tammy and Bec looked at the kid Cole was talking about and Bec scoffed quietly in disgust.

_Who the hell does Cole think he is picking on a poor kid who was probably one eighth of his size?_ Bec said feeling sorry for 'that Wu kid'.

"Suddenly I'm not really all that hungry, excuse me, Tammy?" Bec pleaded with her friend to leave the table with her.

"Yeah, excuse me too" Tammy got the hint and pushed her tray forward and followed Bec out of the cafeteria trying her hardest to ignore the stares and whispers from the Duck table as she passed them.

Rick watched his girl leave and pounded his fist on the table.

"COLE!" he bellowed scaring the hell out of his teammates.

"Yes?" Cole answered weakly.

"You _do not_ pick on kids when she's around me do you understand that?" Rick's voice was barely above a hushed tone and he was talking through gritted teeth.

"Yes" Cole hung his head.

"Good now next time you see Tammy and Bec you'd better apologise for your behaviour and I _will_ be checking up" Rick threatened before calmly sitting back down again.

"Okay" Cole said slinking down in his seat a little. He knew better than to cross Rick Riley.

* * *

"Tammy what the hell was that about? You know as well as I do that Tommy played for the Ducks, not the Hawks" Bec grilled her friend once they were well out of earshot, of anyone.

"I know but something in Adam's voice was telling me not to let Rick know that I'm an ex-Duck" Tammy replied feeling a little sad at the desperation behind Adam Banks' words.

"Well doesn't that tell you something about Rick? I mean he's a nice guy and all but why would you go through the hassle of keeping a secret from him?" Bec responded when she finally realised what Rick's problem with anything Duck was.

"The Ducks are the new JV team" Bec said suddenly and Tammy realised what she was saying.

"Great!" she answered sarcastically now becoming aware exactly why the Ducks hated her and Rick was so mad at them.

"No, you know what! If they can't get their heads out of their asses and stop acting so damn self important all the time then that's their problem. I haven't done anything wrong!" Tammy stomped her foot angrily.

"No you haven't" another voice interjected into their conversation and they looked up to see Adam Banks smiling sheepishly at them.

"Hey Adam, why aren't you with Varsity?" Tammy asked wondering where the rest of the team were.

"Rick sent to me see if you were okay, he's currently trying to control Cole from picking on people" Adam said knowing that as much as he knew Fulton liked Tammy, Tammy had every right to be with whomever she chose and if she chose Rick Riley then so be it.

"Cole's such a fuckwit" Bec replied before adding "Hi I'm Bec, and Tam here seems to have a habit of forgetting to introduce me to people" she stuck her hand out and Adam shook it not used to seeing a girl so forward before.

"I agree but he listens to Rick so maybe he'll leave some poor kid alone today" Adam replied smiling shyly.

"Adam, I'd hate to break this up but could you please tell me what the hell is going on? I mean, why are you on Varsity and why aren't you hanging around with your friends and where the hell is Jesse Hall? If the rest of the Ducks are here then I would have heard Jesse's loud voice by now!" Tammy was talking a mile a minute, something she did when she was confused and it was pissing her off.

"New coach put me on Varsity, the Ducks hate me because they think I'm now the enemy, I hang around Varsity cos hey, at least they talk to me and Jesse quit hockey after Terry got caught up in some street gang and nearly died after getting shot and they moved to Virginia" Adam replied.

"Well how's that for the short, condensed version" Bec commented staring wide eyed at the blond boy.

"Yeah, so Bec was right then, the Ducks are the new JV team and Rick hates them because they lost his brother his spot on the team" Tammy looked to Adam for confirmation and he nodded.

"It doesn't change anything you know Adam, how do you think Tommy, Peter and Karp felt when you all went on to the Goodwill Games and forgot to even mention it to them, and now look at you, you're all put up on scholarships to the best school and they're all struggling with public school. The Ducks were the best thing that happened to them, and just like that you all turned your backs on them" Tammy was letting all the rage she felt for her younger brother and the 'forgotten' Ducks be known.

"It was hard for them to belong to a team one minute and then be shunned the next. So what if they weren't the best players but they still formed part of the 'Minnesota Miracle' didn't they?" she continued when Adam didn't answer her.

"Yeah they did" he answered softly. It had never occurred to him before how the other Ducks must've felt when they all got famous in LA and brought home the gold for Team USA. It didn't even occur to him that no one had even told them they were going.

"Look I'm sorry, its not your fault, I'm just feeling all defensive right now" Tammy apologised realising that taking this out on Adam wasn't going to help anyone.

"Its okay, I'm sorry for being so selfish" Adam replied.

Before they could get into an argument over who was more sorry the bell rang and the student body poured out of the cafeteria and started heading their way.

The Ducks formed a large group and they couldn't hide their distaste at seeing two of their ex-teammates talking in the hallway.

"Traitor" one of them shot the comment towards them but neither Tammy nor Adam knew who that was aimed at.

"So where's your Varsity boyfriend princess or are you doing Banks here on the side?" Connie Moreau spat at Tammy.

Tammy's mouth dropped open.

"What does the truth hurt?" Connie pressed on.

Tammy opened her mouth to speak but was held back by Bec.

"You know jealousy's an ugly thing you've got going on there, that and the hideous zit on your chin that your makeup just isn't hiding" Bec shot back at her. No one, especially a petty little girl like this one, was going to have a go at Tammy without her saying something back.

Connie's hand immediately flew to her chin and she looked around in embarrassment.

Bec felt a little bad for taking a stab at a physical flaw but hey, she started it.

"What does the truth hurt?" Tammy shot Connie's own words back at her and the team moved on.

Tammy's eyes locked briefly with Fulton's but she was too angry at them to offer him any form of truce. Plus he was glaring straight back at her.

"Thanks Bec" Tammy turned back towards her friend.

"Wow they sure are a venomous bunch aren't they" Bec tried lightening the mood but Adam wasn't buying it.

"I can't believe Connie would think that about me, and about you" he exploded.

"Think what about you and you" Rick had caught up to the little group.

"Nothing, just had a run in with the Ducks, ended in a insult hurling match" Tammy told him and he accepted her explanation.

"You let me know if they give any of you trouble" he said looking from Tammy to Bec and finally at Adam.

The trio nodded and they headed off to their next class.

Tammy sighed in relief when it was one that had none of the Ducks in it.

Some small comfort in an otherwise crappy day.

_This has to get better sometime right?_ She thought.

* * *

**I know I've made the Ducks extremely bitchy here but they do have a tendency to turn on people rather quickly (as they did to poor Adam in D3 - well that's what was implied anyway) - sorry if its offended anyone.**

**GALINDAPOPULAR - Connie ain't so giddy now!! and this bitch fight will escalate a little more (maybe some slapping and hair pulling could be involved - what do you think?)**

**HOCKEY-GIRL90 - poor Fulton, and no one's gonna be making this any easier on him in chapters to come**

**CUPIDSANGEL - It may get sorted out, just don't know how soon (and it will get much more messier!!)**

**HIDINGINTHESHADOW - thanks for permission, I might just take you up on that in later chapters**

**HOLZ - thanks for your review, yeah I only heard a few weeks ago that Marguerite Moreau (Connie) and Garette Ratliff Henson (Guy) were married, and they have a baby daughter named Natalie Leigh. Oh and Elden Henson (Fulton) is actually Garette's (Guy's) half brother in real life so there's an 'uncle Fulton'!**

**Thanks for all who reviewed!**


	8. Break Her Heart, I'll Break Your Legs

Things got a little better for Tammy when Rick showed up at her door later that afternoon with an enormous bunch of roses and some chocolates.

"You didn't have to do all this" Tammy gushed taking the gifts from him and placing them on her desk.

"If it gets you to smile than its completely worth it" Rick smiled. If there was one thing he loved seeing it was Tammy Duncan with a smile on her face.

"You're making me blush" Tammy said shyly feeling like a total idiot.

"Good, you look cute when you blush" Rick grinned moving closer to her.

This in turn made Tammy blush further and her cheeks were on fire when Rick move in and gently kissed her on the lips.

She was momentarily stunned when Rick moved to make the kiss a little more serious but she willingly gave in and wrapped her arms around her neck. Rick slipped his left arm around her waist and snaked his right hand through her soft blond hair.

"So Tammy I was wondering……whoah, I am so sorry!" Bec had entered the room and looked horrified that she'd just interrupted her roommate and her now very obvious boyfriend.

"Its okay" Tammy stammered out feeling highly embarrassed. She knew Bec would drill her for details later.

"Um, well carry on, I'm gonna go find Scooter or Banks, or someone, bye!" Bec exited the room and the pair were left facing each other not sure on what to do now.

"Okay that was a little embarrassing" Rick laughed softly.

"Yeah" Tammy replied feeling a little euphoric from their earlier kiss.

"Well, I'm gonna go, I hope you like the flowers and I'll see you tomorrow" Rick said suddenly feeling all shy and awkward.

_Since when do I get like this?_ He wondered feeling happy when she responded with.

"I do, they're beautiful" and she stepped towards him and kissed him again.

"Bye" she replied pulling away grinning.

"Bye" Rick said when they opened the door and he took a step into the hallway.

He couldn't resist it, he had to have one last kiss.

"Now bye" he grinned and gave her hand one last squeeze before striding off down the hall.

Tammy watched after him but her smile soon turned to a frown when she recognised Fulton Reed coming out of a dorm room down the hall.

She felt bad for a moment when he put two and two together and realised that Rick had just come from Tammy's room but she decided he'd done his dash with her and she soon turned angry and she walked back into her room and shut the door behind her.

Fulton glared at Rick as he walked past.

Rick couldn't resist asking.

"Something you want to say to me Reed?" he smirked knowing exactly what Fulton was thinking.

"You break Tammy's heart, I break your legs do you understand me?" Fulton replied and Rick was slightly taken aback. That wasn't what he was expecting, it was almost like Fulton was giving Rick his approval to date the girl as long as he didn't hurt her.

"What makes you think I'll hurt her?" Rick asked. He actually really liked Tammy, well more than he ever liked Mindy anyway and Mindy had been his girlfriend for nearly two years.

"Just don't do it" Fulton said and he walked away before his anger got the better of him.

He hadn't realised that Charlie was standing on the other side of the door to the stairwell and had heard everything.

"You handled that well" Charlie commented and the Bash Brother was startled. He'd been so busy thinking about the Tammy and Rick situation that he hadn't realised he'd nearly walked straight into his captain, well in the Ducks eyes Charlie was still the captain even if Orion was too pigheaded to see it.

"Yeah well I figured we'd pissed her off enough for today" Fulton was a little sore about the confrontation in the hallway earlier.

"Connie was a little harsh" Charlie agreed.

"Yeah and whoever called her a slut didn't help either" Fulton didn't know who that person was and he didn't care right now.

"I don't know who that was either" Charlie thought about it for a minute but couldn't come up with anything.

"Are you still into her?" Charlie asked the question he was dying to know that answer to.

"Of course I am man, she's like the only girl I've ever wanted but if she wants Rick and she's happy with him then who am I to stand in the way" Fulton reasoned and Charlie nodded understanding. He'd felt that way about Connie once when she started dating Guy but those feelings had long since fizzled out. Besides, he'd already met his dream girl but she appeared to hate his guts right now because he played hockey.

"I understand" Charlie replied patting Fulton on the back.

"Come on, lets go home" Fulton decided he'd had enough of hanging around Eden Hall for the day and wanted to get back to where he felt he belonged.

* * *

"What are you doing here?" Adam was shocked to open the door to find Bec standing on his front porch.

"Nice to see you too Banks" Bec scoffed with a small grin to let him know she was just playing around.

"Sorry, that did sound kinda rude, but how'd you know where I lived?" he asked looking around behind her but saw nothing but his front yard, just the way he left it.

"I asked one of the Ducks" Bec said with a straight face.

"Really?" Adam asked in awe.

"No, Scooter told me" Bec let him in on the joke and Adam laughed.

"Did you walk here?" Adam continued with the questions.

"Yeah, six blocks isn't really that far Adam" Bec rolled her eyes. She could walk forever some days if her legs would let her.

"I guess" he said slowly feeling bad for making his mother pick him up every day after school.

"So are we gonna stand here all day or did you wanna hang out with me for a while?" Bec got to the point of her visit.

"Where's Tammy?" Adam asked curiously. Bec and Tammy seemed attached at the hip lately.

"Currently sucking face in our dorm with your captain" Bec replied.

"Charlie?" Adam asked forgetting for a minute that he was on Varsity.

"Charlie? No Rick" Bec corrected raising one eyebrow in confusion.

"Sorry, I guess some old habits die hard" Adam replied standing aside and allowing Bec to enter the house. He didn't want to leave her standing on the porch all afternoon.

"So Charlie's the captain of the Ducks is he?" Bec remembered who Charlie was.

"Not anymore, Orion took away his C" Adam responded knowing that this would piss Charlie off to no end.

"Why?" Bec asked taking a seat on the sofa that Adam gestured to.

"I have no idea, probably cos Charlie was being a smartass" Adam recalled that first practice when Orion chewed him out.

"Oh" Bec replied not really understanding the dynamics of a team sport. Especially a sport which involved such a large group. In figure skating it was just her and the ice, well and Tammy too since she was part of the 'team' but that term was sort of used loosely.

"Do you like being on Varsity?" Bec asked.

"Its alright I guess, probably better than being near the Ducks since they hate me right now" Adam confessed. He decided Bec was really easy to talk to.

"They kind of turn on people rather quickly don't they?" Bec asked hoping she wasn't overstepping the mark.

"I never really thought about it like that but yeah when someone else says it they kind of do" Adam replied thinking about all of the Ducks they'd left behind. He knew they never spoke to them anymore.

"Well I'll be your friend if you want" Bec declared.

"You will?" Adam replied a little shocked. People never readily offered their friendship to him, he always felt like he had to earn it.

"Sure, you seem like a nice person" Bec replied feeling a little sad for Adam. It was painfully clear that outside the Ducks, he didn't have any other friends.

"Thanks" Adam replied looking down at the carpet.

"Well I'd better go, it was nice hanging out with you my new friend Adam Banks" Bec smiled.

"You too Bec, umm" Adam searched for her last name but couldn't recall ever hearing it.

"Carter" Bec finished for him.

"Bec Carter" Adam repeated.

"See ya tomorrow" Bec called over her shoulder as Adam let her out the front door.

* * *

"Where have you been?" Tammy asked her roommate when she finally arrived back at their dorm room.

"I visited my new friend Adam" Bec replied innocently.

"Adam Banks?" Tammy asked. She didn't know any other 'Adam's.

"The one and only" Bec replied.

"Why?" Tammy asked.

"Well my room was otherwise occupied" Bec replied cheekily.

"That's not what I meant" Tammy laughed.

"Well Scooter was a little preoccupied thinking about that Julie girl so I asked him where Adam lived since he's the only other person I've met and actually like" Bec answered.

"You like him?" Tammy wasn't sure what her friend meant.

"As a friend, I get the feeling that since the Ducks ditched him he has no one" Bec replied.

"That's sad" Tammy replied thinking about Fulton's face once again.

"So you and Rick huh? That kiss looked pretty serious" Bec snapped her out of her depressive thoughts.

"That kiss was amazing" Tammy gushed remembering what it felt like.

"Really?" Bec asked sitting up a little straighter.

"Yeah, he's awesome" Tammy replied.

"So you're happy then I take it?" Bec asked.

"Yeah I am" Tammy answered honestly.

"Well good then" Bec replied feeling glad her friend was happy. She certainly deserved to be.

* * *

**okay sorry I know you're gonna all kill me for Tammy choosing Rick right now but I do have this story mapped out in my head now so I'll be able to update a little more quickly now.**

**TORITHY - She'll see the light (or smell the coffee) eventually. Glad you're liking this - see the global apology above!!!**

**HIDING IN THE SHADOW - Yes Connie is going to be fiercely protective of her teammate (current not the former) and I think another girlfight may just be in order, maybe some hair pulling and pinching might be called for too, what do you think? thanks for reviewing**

**GALINDAPOPULAR - yeah I always thought the Ducks were too harsh on Adam when it wasn't even his fault he got put on Varsity and outcasts need to stick together!!**

**HOCKEY-GIRL90 - Connie sounded like a biatch? Excellent! that's what I was trying to go for!! I felt bad for Adam too in the movie.**

**CUPIDSANGEL - I wasn't gonna put another pairing in it, but I'll see how that works out, I'm not sure that Adam and Julie will fit though but I'll think of something. thanks for your suggestion and review!**


	9. Warning

"I can't believe this! This is all her fault" Connie sat on the locker room bench screaming her head off.

"Whos fault?" Ken Wu was very foolish to ask.

"TAMMY'S FAULT!" Connie raised her voice even higher and the team shuddered.

Ken clammed up. He knew better than to ask how it could possibly be Tammy Duncan's fault that Charlie and Fulton had just quit the team and walked out on them.

The team remained silent as they changed out of their gear and got the hell out of that locker room.

"So should we tell Tammy that Connie's out for her blood?" Averman asked Goldberg as they walked rather briskly towards the quad.

"I dunno Aves, I mean she is supposed to be the enemy now" Goldberg mused.

"Yeah but Connie will kill her, she at least needs to be a little prepared" Averman argued.

"Yeah I guess you're right" Goldberg agreed and the boys became on the lookout for their ex-teammate.

* * *

"What on earth happened to your face?" Bec was horrified to find Adam at his locker sporting a black eye.

"Dawn grudge match, got into a fight with Charlie" Adam replied grabbing a folder from his locker.

"With Charlie? Jeez Adam I didn't know it had gotten that bad" Bec had gotten the whole Duck history during pee-wees from Tammy and Adam had since filled her in on any blanks.

"Neither did I until this morning" Adam slammed his locker shut. He was obviously riled up now.

"Well do you want me to go and smack him back?" Bec asked cheekily with a lopsided grin.

"Sure, be my guest Bec" Adam finally laughed for the first time that day.

"Right where is he?" Bec puffed her chest out and tried to look macho. On such a skinny little figure skater the effect was kind of tragic.

It was enough to make Adam double over in laughter however.

"Bec do you need to go to the bathroom?" Scooter interjected upon seeing his teammate laughing his ass off and his new friend looking rather constipated.

"NO! Oh wow, did you get punched too?" Bec stopped what she was doing and noticed the little scratch on Scooter's cheek.

"Yeah, whoever said girls can't hit need their head checked" Scooter should have been grumpy about being hit by a girl but in truth he was ecstatic that Julie "The Cat" Gaffney had touched him.

"A GIRL DID THAT!" Bec said a little too loudly.

"Julie Gaffney isn't just any girl" Scooter said dreamily.

"You like Julie?" Adam asked as if the thought had never occurred to him before.

"Yeah" Scooter admitted.

"Julie? Is that the blond girl who hates Tammy?" Bec was racking her brain trying to figure out who Julie was.

"Yeah but she only hates her because of Adam covered quickly not wanting Scooter to tell Rick anything about Fulton.

"Right, got it. well good luck buddy, I hear she hates Varsity too!" Bec patted Scooter on the arm.

"Thanks Bec" Scooter replied dryly.

"Anytime!" Bec replied with a grin. She loved messing with him.

* * *

Averman and Goldberg continued their search for Tammy Duncan but had no such luck locating her. They did however locate her boyfriend.

"I am not asking that guy. Its like saying 'Please sir, would you mind kicking my ass for me?' and I don't have a death wish!" Goldberg protested.

"But if we explain it to him then he might spare us" Averman tried to reason.

"Alright but its your funeral" Goldberg wasn't too convinced.

Averman took a deep breath and approached the crowd of Varsity players. Goldberg sighed and decided he couldn't let his friend do it alone.

"Um excuse me Mr Riley sir" Averman tapped the Varsity captain on the shoulder.

"What do you want?" Rick snapped wondering what would possess this Duck to approach him, let alone touch him.

"We were wondering if you knew where Tammy was. You see we've received some information of a catfight of some sort and we'd like to warn her" Averman explained. His heart was beating at a million beats per hour.

"Information on a catfight?" Rick asked for confirmation.

"Why does Tammy need to know about cats fighting?" Cole asked stupidly and Rick held his hand up to silence him.

"Well?" Rick asked.

"Okay so we heard that a girl wants to fight Tammy and we thought that we should let Tammy know" Averman felt like he was about to pee in his pants or pass out. He couldn't bear the tension or the fear of getting his ass kicked right now.

"I haven't seen her but if you do see her, you let her know and then you leave her alone. She doesn't need any more aggravation from any of you Ducks" Rick commanded.

"Yes sir" Averman and Goldberg replied at the same time and scurried off in search of Tammy.

* * *

"Tammy have you heard?" Bec came racing up to her friend who was sitting alone on the hill by the athletics track.

"Heard what?" Tammy looked up at her friend quizzically. Obviously she hadn't heard.

"Fulton and Charlie quit the Ducks and left school" Bec took a seat in front of her friend.

"They what?" Tammy couldn't quite get her head around the information she'd just received.

"Quit the Ducks and left school" Bec repeated.

"Why?" Tammy couldn't believe that the two biggest pro-Duck people she'd ever met had quit the team they fought so hard to keep together in pee-wees.

"I'm not sure on the specifics but Adam said that there was some huge grudge match at dawn between JV and Varsity, they got into a huge fight, Charlie gave Adam a black eye and that Julie girl gave Scooter a cut cheek, Varsity were kicked off the ice by Orion and now Charlie and Fulton aren't Ducks anymore" Bec repeated what Adam had told her earlier. They'd copped a few dirty looks from the Ducks who saw their ex-friend hanging out with what they deemed as the enemy.

Bec had to laugh, she had become the enemy because she was friends with Tammy and Tammy had become the enemy because she was dating Rick Riley who was the enemy because he was on Varsity.

You've gotta love high school.

"Great so there's another thorn in Connie Moreau's side" Tammy wailed throwing her hands up in the air in frustration. It wasn't her fault that they didn't like her boyfriend. If they had've bothered to keep in touch with their old friends then Tammy might've known that the Ducks were attending Eden Hall and maybe things could've been different.

"There's more" a voice cut into the girls conversation and they looked up to see Averman and Goldberg standing over them.

"How could there possibly be more?" Tammy gestured for the pair to sit. She'd always gotten along with the pair and was more than happy to have them join her little duo.

"Well, you see….um……Averman will tell you" Goldberg tried to spit whatever it was he was trying to say out but failed miserably.

"Oh….uh…..well" Averman started.

"Will one of you please remove whatever it is that's preventing you from telling us and just say it?" Bec asked impatiently.

"Okay, Connie's blaming you Tammy for the entire thing and she's out for your blood" Goldberg blurted it out.

Tammy raised an eyebrow.

"You have got to be shitting me right?" she asked in disbelief. How could this possibly be her fault.

"I wish I was. Well not literally because that is just disgusting" Averman replied and Bec grimaced at the literal part.

"So why are you telling me this?" Tammy asked knowing that if Connie Moreau knew that Goldberg and Averman were here telling Tammy that she was out for revenge then who knew what she'd do to the poor boys.

"We thought you had a right to know. To us you're still a Duck Tams" Goldberg replied.

"Thanks Goldie but what if Connie finds out?" Tammy asked.

"What if Connie finds out what?"

The foursome froze when the recognised that voice.

"Oh shit" Averman exclaimed.

* * *

**and the catfight will commence in the next chapter!!**

**HIDING IN THE SHADOW - I know Fulton's an idiot for admitting defeat but who knows, he might grow some balls later on. I don't think I'll make Bec & Adam an item. They seem better suited as friends for now.**

**HOCKEY-GIRL90 - thanks for the review, as I mentioned above, I don't really see Adam and Bec becoming more than friends, who knows thought, I might change my mind later on.**

**TORITY - when there's a Bash Brother involved, there's always hope ;)**

**MIGHTYDUCK22 - thanks for the review, no Adam and Bec on the romantic front, I might have other plans for her yet (but I'm known to constantly change my mind so who knows!!)**

**GALINDAPOPULAR - thats what I was going for with Rick, trying to get the fact that he's a completely different person when he's around the Ducks to the person he is when he is with Tammy. Thanks for the review, I do feel bad for Fulton though.**

**CUPIDSANGEL - a little more drama to come yet and I'm glad you like this story.**

**THANKS TO ALL WHO REVIEWED.**


	10. Catfight!

"Geez guys, its nice to know who my _real_ friends are" Connie Moreau spat with venom as she glared at her two teammates and childhood friends talking to her enemy. Julie Gaffney was right beside her glaring at the foursome with equal contempt.

"We are your friend Connie but this is your business with Tammy, whatever it is, not ours" Averman replied feeling sick to death of being told who he can and can't talk to. First it was Adam, now it was Tammy.

"Oh so you call losing our captain and Fulton none of your business" Julie glared.

"Its not Tammy's fault they left. They chose to leave us, it should be them you're mad at" Goldberg spoke up.

Bec and Tammy just watched the exchange in confusion wondering what the hell they were talking about.

"DON'T TELL ME WHO TO BE MAD AT!" Connie screamed and Tammy finally stood up. Connie Moreau didn't scare her.

"JUST SHUT UP AND TELL ME WHAT THE HELL I S SUPPOSED TO BE MY FAULT HERE!" Tammy screamed in a tone that was a notch higher than Connie's.

Julie even shied back a little not expecting such a tiny girl to yell that loud.

Connie's face grew eerily stony as she stepped towards the tiny blond girl and got right up in her face.

"Fulton left the Ducks because of you and your asshole of a boyfriend. That's what is your fault and Charlie also left too" Connie said in a low voice.

"You do realise how stupid this sounds right?" Bec interjected not quite believing what she was hearing.

"And you do realise this has nothing to do with you?" Julie shot back.

"I see, much like Rick and Tammy's relationship has nothing to do with either of you, or Fulton or Charlie for that matter" Bec replied not scared of the two female hockey players standing before her.

Julie's face tightened even further and Connie's was starting to twist in disproportion.

Tammy felt extremely grateful that she had at least one friend on her side willing to stand up for her.

Goldberg and Averman took the opportunity to slip away and alert the other Ducks. They knew the male Ducks like Guy and Dwayne would help defuse the situation. They only hoped they got back with the cavalry before any blood was spilled.

"Hey guys why do you look like you've been running?" Ken looked up from his homework as the two Ducks burst through the door looking like they were about to die.

"Where's everyone?" Averman asked feeling disappointed that the room was almost empty, bar Ken.

"Cafeteria" Ken answered glancing back down at his homework.

"Come on Wu, we have an emergency" Goldberg regained enough breath to haul the little Bash Brother to his feet and march him out the door.

"But" Ken started.

"No buts, we're gonna have a war if we don't hurry up" Goldberg affirmed hoping that none of the girls had thrown any punches or slaps yet.

* * *

"Who the hell does Orion think he is?" Charlie angrily kicked at a stone on the sidewalk as he and Fulton strolled down the street at a pace that was somewhere between pissed off and not caring.

"I dunno, but he's right about the Ducks being gone. Its just not the same this year Charlie. Portman's bailed, Bombay's gone, Banks is on another team. We just don't have that spark like we used to" Fulton said thoughtfully as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

"I guess we're the only true Ducks left then" Charlie agreed with Fulton's point but he wasn't going to let the Ducks die, even if he was the only one left. The others had pretty much made their choice when they sold out to Eden Hall earlier that day.

Fulton didn't exactly agree with Charlie's opinion but he didn't voice his objection. He knew it was pointless to get into an argument with Charlie, especially when it came to the Ducks. The truth was, in Fulton's mind anyway, was that they were no better than the Ducks who chose to stay on at Eden Hall.

Not one of them, including Charlie and himself, went out of their way to get in contact with any of the old team. Didn't they all have a right to be a part of the Ducks too, if not in the team but in the friendships they'd formed?

He completely understood why Tammy would choose someone like Rick over himself. Rick hadn't abandoned her once the team went global. Granted, Rick wasn't around for all of that and Tammy did move to California but he could have looked her up whilst they were in LA couldn't he?

And now came the hard part, how was he ever going to tell Charlie how he felt about all of this?

_Ah worry about it tomorrow_ the voice in his head told him and he tried to get his head back into the conversation at hand. Charlie had stopped moaning about the Ducks and was now in full swing planning mode. His brilliant plan for tomorrow was going to the Mall of America.

Fulton just smiled and nodded in the appropriate places. Hey it wasn't like he had anywhere better to be.

* * *

"Why are you even here? Do I matter that much to you?" Tammy had finally fought back.

"See? you are so full of yourself Tammy Duncan!" Connie screamed again.

"I'm so full of myself? Have you taken a good look at yourself lately Connie? You are the most self-righteous person I know, well aside from Charlie when he gets in a mood, but you're pretty damn close!" Tammy didn't care what she was saying anymore. If Connie wanted to start it then she was going to finish it.

"How DARE you talk about Charlie like that. You have no right" Connie screamed again and Bec rolled her eyes. _Sheesh there was just no getting through to some people_ Bec thought.

"What are you rolling your eyes at?" Julie snarled and Bec immediately went on the defensive.

"You and your idiotic friend there. You think that everything bad that has ever happened to you is someone else's fault. Why don't you grow up, take responsibility for what's going on in your little Duck world and stop blaming Tammy for things that aren't her fault!" Bec let it rip. Julie was a little taken aback and Connie was seething.

It was like a scene from a bad horror movie when the zombies start making an illegible noise and charges at their prey like a soldier on a mission and Connie was no exception.

Well except for the zombie part. However she did scream like a banshee and lunged at Tammy managing to knock them both off balance and back onto the grass.

Bec and Julie stared at the scene before them in shock. There was hair pulling, biting, slapping, the works. It was your classic cat fight scene except it was between a hockey player and a figure skater rather than two skanky cheerleaders.

"Get off of her, we have a meet in two weeks!" Bec suddenly was the voice of reason and leapt into the scuffle to drag her friend out.

"So we have a game on FRIDAY!" Julie joined the fight and pretty soon no one knew who was fighting who. It was a tangle of hair, hands, fingernails, at some stage there were some teeth.

"Oh my god!" Ken looked horrified when the boys finally arrived only to find they were way too late.

"Girls, enough!" Guy was trying to be the mediator but he foolishly tried to pull Connie out of the rumble only to have Julie chomp down on his hand.

"OW! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" Guy jumped back holding his hand.

Of course he didn't get a response because the girls were too busy fighting each other.

"That's it, I'm gonna put a stop to this and hopefully I suffer no repercussions" Dwayne decided to take charge and marched off towards the sprinkler system.

"Good Lord he's brave" Luis realised what Dwayne was about to do.

"I'd hate to be him if they ever catch him" Goldberg agreed knowing that what Dwayne was about to do was incredibly risky.

"Girls y'all have to the count of one to stop this fightin' otherwise I'm stoppin' it for yas" Dwayne gave the girls a chance to stop him from doing what he was about to do but he was ignored so he lifted the hose and fired.

"ARGH!" was the reply and the girls immediately detangled themselves from each other and started checking their hair.

Averman, Goldberg, Guy, Luis and Ken all stared at the dripping wet foursome in front of them. Connie had a scratch on her forehead, Tammy had a massive cut on her cheek and some scratches on her neck, Julie was sporting scratches on her arms, chin and legs and Bec had a cut lip.

It wasn't a pretty sight.

"DWAYNE!" Connie and Julie yelled and it didn't take much for Dwayne and the rest of the boys to drop the hose and run like the wind.

Tammy and Bec were left alone both dripping wet and wondering what the hell had just happened.

"Are you okay?" Bec asked hoping that any injuries they'd sustained were very minor. Coach Marquardt would have a fit if they couldn't attend their first meet skating for Eden Hall.

"Yeah are you?" Tammy asked feeling like her pride had been more bruised than any body part. She was just glad that the Cowboy had stepped in when he did.

"Still alive and kicking, those bitches have nothing on me!" Bec joked and puffed out her chest, very much like she did to Adam in the hallway earlier.

"Or me!" Tammy laughed getting the joke.

"Come on lets go get some dry clothes on" Bec threw an arm around her friend and they made their way towards the dorms.

* * *

**so there's the catfight, next chapter will have some Fulton/Tammy interaction (I know I've been cruel leaving it until now but you won't be disappointed - I hope)**

**CUPIDSANGEL - I hope you enjoyed this catfight, I figured Dwayne needed to be the rescuer for a change (well in fairness he did save Connie from Olaf Sandersen in D2, but he didn't get much in D3)**

**GALINDAPOPULAR - Thanks for the review, I hope the catfight is okay. I know you like drama and a little conflict!**

**SILVERRAIN1.3 - thanks for your review, I thought Averman captured the 'crap I'm in trouble now' atmosphere with that line. Glad you enjoyed it!**


	11. Long Overdue

Tammy wandered around the streets of Minnesota alone. She just needed some time and space to think about things for a little while. Bec had offered her some company but when Tammy declined she set out to find Banks and give him a briefing on what went down earlier that day.

Rick was nowhere to be found. Tammy didn't mind though, it wasn't like she went out of her way to look for him but she thought it might have been nice for him to come to her since the entire school was buzzing with the news of the fight and you'd either have to be living under a rock or not be attending Eden Hall to not know about it.

Which brought her mind around to Fulton.

Tammy thought long and hard about the tall, dark, quiet guy she knew from pee wees and how he'd had such an impact on her thoughts, especially of late. She knew he'd been hurt by this whole Rick business but she couldn't help that, the thing with Rick just kind of happened.

She wondered whether Fulton had heard about her little scuffle with the two female Ducks and whether he'd care or was he sitting around with Charlie laughing his ass off about how Connie and Julie had defended his honour or some bullshit like that. Tammy couldn't even work out how the fight began in the first place other than Connie taking a sudden and extreme disliking to her and Julie backing her up.

She sighed and took a deep breath as if to cleanse all of these deep confusing feelings away but it didn't seem to be working too well.

Sighing again, she continued walking and thinking until she heard the distinctive sound of a hockey puck being hit.

She quickened her pace a little intent on investigation although a little unsure why. She had the feeling that whoever was hitting those pucks would be able to help her.

* * *

Luis Mendoza was on top of the world. The hot Varsity cheerleader he'd had his eye on ever since he first saw her in the hallway had just agreed to go on a date with him although she told him she was still sort of seeing someone else but it was a secret so it was okay that she dates him as well.

Luis wasn't too thrilled about sharing her with some jack off who was too chicken shit to be seen with her, even though she was one of the hottest, most popular girls in school. He wondered what kind of guy wouldn't want to be seen with that.

His question was soon answered when he turned around to catch another glimpse at his idea of perfection and was horrified to discover just exactly who the mystery man was.

He needed a third party's opinion on this one.

* * *

"What the hell happened to you?" Adam stared at his new friend as he took in the various marks and scratches that now adorned her face and neck.

"Interesting story, not sure if you want to hear it" Bec smirked knowing that Adam was dying to hear what had happened.

"Aw come on" Adam pleaded stepping aside to let Bec into the house.

"Which version do you want?" Bec asked cheekily.

"What are my options?" Adam replied getting used to the way Bec's sense of humour worked.

"There's the tiger story, the Julie and Connie story and then there's the Santa riding on a dragon story" Bec replied laying out the options. She hoped he wouldn't pick the Santa riding on a dragon story, she'd just made that up on the spur of the moment and couldn't explain herself even if she tried.

"Santa sounds interesting but I think I might go with the Julie and Connie story" Adam laughed as they took a seat in the family room.

"Oh thank god, I didn't know how I was gonna explain the other one!" Bec sighed with relief and Adam laughed again.

"So care to explain the Julie and Connie story?" Adam asked interested to know what had happened.

"Well it began like this" Bec began recounting the events surrounding that afternoon.

* * *

Tammy was unsure as to why she was even surprised to find Fulton Reed in that alley smashing each puck with a little more intensity than the last aiming for an old trunk.

She clung to the wall of the alley as a high speed puck sailed past her.

"Sorry" Fulton didn't even look up.

Tammy took a deep breath.

_Its now or never_ she decided and pushed herself off the wall.

"It's okay, are you still shooting one out of five?" she asked wiling herself to keep eye contact as Fulton's head whipped up at the recognition of her voice.

"What are you doing here?" Fulton asked lining up another puck.

"Walking" Tammy replied.

"Where's your boyfriend? Does he know you're out?" Fulton asked a little harshly and he mentally kicked himself for it.

"I don't know and who cares? He doesn't own me" Tammy replied feeling a little defensive.

Fulton whipped his head up again to look at her. _Had she really just said she didn't care where Rick was?_

"You didn't answer my first question you know and 'walking' doesn't cut it" Fulton replied wanting to know why out of all the places to walk, she'd picked his alley.

"What do you want me to say? I had a shitty day, wanted to get away from it all and low and behold, my feet brought me here. Does that cut it?" Tammy replied cheekily. She wasn't in the mood to fight with Fulton right now.

"Sounds like a reason to me" Fulton replied warming up to her a little. He could never stay mad at her for long.

"So do you want a go, it might make you feel better" Fulton offered her his stick.

Tammy looked up at him and accepted it. Their bodies jolted with electricity as their hands brushed briefly. She shrugged it off and took her stance ready to slap the shit out of the puck at her feet.

She raised the stick and let loose; the puck sailed through the air and clipped the side of the trunk.

"Nice, obviously you still have it" Fulton smiled.

"Maybe I could make _two_ out of five!" Tammy responded with a glint in her eye.

She stepped towards him to hand him the stick back and Fulton caught sight of the cut on her face.

"What happened here?" he asked and before he could stop himself his right hand had betrayed him and was now reaching out and gently touching the cut on her face.

"Oh that, um well I kind of got into a scuffle at school" Tammy replied blushing under Fulton's touch.

"_You_ got into a scuffle?" Fulton replied in disbelief. That seemed so unlike Tammy.

"Well it was _your _fault!" Tammy immediately wished she could retract that statement.

"My fault? Why?" Fulton asked.

Tammy took a breath and admitted defeat. She was gonna have to tell him about Connie and Julie.

Fulton stood and listened to her story with his jaw set and Tammy could tell he was getting angrier by the second. She just hoped his anger wasn't directed at her.

"Connie needs to learn when to shut the fuck up" Fulton stated once Tammy had finished telling her story.

"Its okay, she just thought she was being a friend" Tammy tried sticking up for Connie but it was no use.

"If she were my friend then she'd but out and realise that as much as I like you, I want you to be happy, even if it means you're with Rick and not me" Fulton stopped when he realised he'd just said way too much.

Tammy was too stunned to speak.

"I think we're long overdue for a big talk don't you think?" Fulton suggested when she didn't respond.

"I agree" Tammy finally found her voice.

"Can I buy you a coffee?" Fulton asked.

"How about a juice instead?" Tammy replied.

"You're on" Fulton agreed and led her out of the alley towards the juice bar.

* * *

**well at least Fulton admitted to liking her. What will Tammy do now?**

**GALINDAPOPULAR - Glad you're liking Bec, I wasn't sure if people would like her or not. Thanks for your review, you are awesome!**

**HIDING IN THE SHADOWS - Wow, college sounds exciting (and lets hope there's no mean cheerleaders at the one you do pick!). I figured only Aves and Goldie could get away with approaching Rick like that and Dwayne needed some excitement, even if it was risking castration. Thanks for your review, you're a star!**


	12. The Right Thing

"Whoah there Mendoza, back up. You saw _who_ sneaking into Mindy's room?" Ken was perplexed.

He'd been interrupted during a very important conversation with his father about the status of his brother's standing in the latest filmmaking contest.

Ken worshipped his older brother Po and since Po was currently in Hollywood making a massive name for himself as a filmmaker and he was stuck in Minnesota where he couldn't visit him, he was lapping up every piece of information his father was handing him.

Well he was until Luis barged into their room and started telling him about someone in Mindy's room and something to do with Tammy and Connie.

Ken's first thought was that Tammy and her friend had conspired with the cheerleaders and how had Connie and Julie on their hit list.

But then Luis was talking about someone in Mindy's room.

"Rick Riley. Mindy said she was secretly seeing someone else" Luis explained a little slower this time so Ken could actually understand what he was saying.

"Okay" Ken was wondering why Luis was even telling him this.

"Okay? Dude, what about Tammy?" Luis asked.

"What about her Luis? We don't owe her anything and our team's falling apart enough as it is. We don't want to complicate things even further by making nice with Connie's new enemy" Ken explained. Usually he'd be the first to right a wrong, but lately he was realising that sometimes it was best to keep out of things.

"Maybe you're right" Luis didn't want another repeat of the afternoon's little fight. He honestly didn't think the boys would get away with giving the girls a free shower twice in a row.

"I know I'm right" Ken replied not looking up.

* * *

"Here you go" Fulton handed Tammy her juice and sat down at the table opposite her and cradled his own. 

"Thank you" Tammy replied taking a sip.

"You're welcome" Fulton grinned and Tammy's heart did a little flutter.

_I am so screwed!_ She thought to herself but nevertheless glad she was back on speaking terms with him again.

"So is what Connie said true? You really just left the Ducks like that?" Tammy asked him. Maybe she could talk him into coming back.

Fulton hung his head.

"Yeah" he replied softly.

"I'm not judging you or anything but why?" Tammy wasn't too sure if she wanted to hear the answer.

"The Ducks are dead. Orion just made it official" Fulton explained.

"So it wasn't because of me at all?" Tammy asked.

Fulton put his juice cup down.

"Who said that?" he asked.

Tammy looked down at her feet.

"No one" she mumbled.

"Like hell no one" Fulton shifted his seat to pull up next to Tammy. He'd seen the upset look on her face.

"Its fine" Tammy felt like crying at his concern.

"Its okay Tams you can tell me" Fulton took a chance and put an arm around her.

Tammy found herself laying her head on his shoulder.

"Connie, she thinks I'm the reason you and Charlie left and she hates my guts" Tammy confessed.

Fulton squeezed her in to him a little tighter and kissed her head.

"You're not the reason I left. Charlie got upset that Orion killed the Ducks and that the others obeyed him and I dunno, I kind of felt like I owed him some loyalty or something. If anything Tams you're reason enough for me to go back" Fulton admitted.

"Really?" Tammy looked up at him.

"Really" Fulton smiled warmly at her.

She wrapped her arms around his middle and hugged him. He responded by closing his arms around her even tighter.

"Come on Duncan, lets get you back" Fulton pulled out of the embrace and held his hand out to her.

She accepted his hand and the pair walked back to Eden Hall hand in hand.

* * *

Bec arrived back at her dorm with a plan and her plan was to get Adam Banks laughing again. 

He'd been quiet on the walk back to Eden Hall but Bec assumed it had something to do with a phone call he'd received whilst they were still at his house.

"An old friend died today" Adam had blurted out suddenly as they walked.

"Wow that sucks" Bec replied.

"You know that's what I like about you Bec, you think before you say things, I don't get those people who respond with 'I'm sorry'. Sorry for what? You're not the one who made him die!" Adam exploded.

"I know, and those who say 'Oh I understand what you must be feeling' too. Its like hello you're not inside my feelings, for all you know I could be ecstatic!" Bec matched Adam tone for tone. She sensed he needed to rant for a little bit.

"I KNOW! See you get it!" Adam exclaimed.

"I KNOW!" Bec replied.

"Thanks Bec" Adam's face softened again.

"For what?" Bec asked.

"For letting me act like a loon for a few minutes and not saying things like 'It was his time' or letting me wallow" Adam said.

"Its cool but I will say, if you wanna cry then go ahead and cry and if you don't wanna cry then don't. Just go and do whatever you feel like doing" Bec said.

Two seconds later she was surprised to feel Adam's arms wrapping around her in a hug.

She didn't say anything but hugged him back. She had a feeling he was gonna be like this for a little while.

* * *

"It feels so much better to be talking to you again" Fulton admitted as he and Tammy walked along the street still holding hands. He was a little surprised that she hadn't made the move to let go yet. 

As much as he was enjoying it, he couldn't help but think of Rick Riley and although he didn't like the guy, he still had to respect what he and Tammy had.

"I know, I should've kept in contact with you" Tammy replied squeezing his hand a little tighter.

"Me too" Fulton replied squeezing back.

"So here we are" Tammy announced as they reached Eden Hall.

"Yeah" Fulton replied suddenly not wanting to let her go.

"Thanks for walking me back" Tammy said shyly.

"Anytime" Fulton smiled.

Tammy completely forgot all about Rick, and anyone else for that matter, as she leaned towards Fulton and kissed him gently on the lips.

Fulton also forgot about everyone else and kissed her back for a few seconds until he remembered where he was and stopped things before they got any further.

"Tam, I can't" he gently stepped away from her.

"But I thought…" Tammy was still forgetting about Rick.

"I do… I like you a LOT….but I can't be with someone else's girlfriend" Fulton explained.

"Oh, right" Tammy remembered she had a boyfriend.

_Shit, what does that say about me?_ She wondered.

"I'm sorry, we can do the whole hanging out thing, just without any of the kissing stuff" Fulton suggested.

"Yeah, that sounds great" Tammy replied in a flat tone. She wasn't trying to be rude.

"Okay well I'll see you tomorrow, I think I have a lot of grovelling to do to Coach Orion and Dean Buckley" Fulton smiled sheepishly.

"Good luck, see you tomorrow" Tammy forced a smile.

She watched him leave the grounds before she headed up to her dorm room.

Fulton stole a glance back at her and saw her heading in towards the dorm buildings.

_You did the right thing Fulton_ his inner voice was telling him.

_Why does the right thing always suck though?_ He answered.

He didn't even bother to answer that question. He had to be happy with being her friend for now.

* * *

**A HUGE THANK YOU TO GALINDAPOPULAR & HIDING IN THE SHADOW FOR BEING MY LOYAL REVIEWERS! YOU GUYS ARE LEGENDS!**

**GALINDAPOPULAR: I figured Rick had to do something bad otherwise it just wouldn't work! And Fulton had to say something before it ate him up!**

**HIDING IN THE SHADOW: I don't get why you have to brag about yourself to get into college, I mean who wants to write that and how hard is it to not sound totally up yourself? But good luck with your essay, I know you'll nail it! Glad you love Bec with every fiber and who knows she might just remember the story about the dragon and santa just for you.**

**HOLZ: This chapter might make you happy then. Thanks for reviewing.**


	13. A Bit on the Side?

"You look happier" Bec commented when Tammy came back to the dorm room.

"So do you" Tammy replied eying the magazines, scissors, glue and paper Bec had strewn over her bed.

"What are you doing?" Tammy couldn't help but ask.

"Long story, but Banks was sad about a friend dying so I thought I'd cheer him up" Bec replied holding up the first page of what she was making.

"Okay, I guess its an insider joke" Tammy replied setting her stuff down.

"I guess, so what happened with you? Why are you all glowy and stuff?" Bec asked thinking it had something to do with Rick.

She was shocked when Tammy gave her the full story.

"Did he kiss you back?" Bec asked once Tammy had finished.

"Yeah but then he stopped and said he can't do this with someone else's girlfriend" Tammy replied feeling guilty all over again.

"Whoah" Bec put down her pencil and faced her friend. Tammy had gotten herself into one hell of a mess alright.

"I'll say" Tammy replied glumly. As much as she loved the kiss she shared with Fulton it still sucked that she forgot she had a boyfriend.

What the hell was she going to say to Rick?

"Are you gonna tell Rick?" Bec asked.

"I probably should" Tammy replied feeling like crying.

"Well you don't have to, I mean if it was a one time thing. Was it a one time thing?" Bec asked.

"Yes, no. aw I don't know!" Tammy cried harder and Bec finally got off her bed and gave Tammy a hug.

"Hey its okay, people fuck up all the time. How about we just forget about it for a minute or two and do something fun!" Bec grinned.

"What do you have in mind? Its after curfew you know" Tammy couldn't think what Bec could possibly have in mind that was fun in their dorm room.

And she wasn't about to sneak out and risk facing Rick, or Fulton if he was still around.

"We're gonna play dress ups!" Bec said heading towards the closet.

* * *

"Dude congrats man, you finally kissed the chick you've been obsessed with like forever!" Portman bellowed down the phone at his best friend. He didn't see what the problem was.

"Yeah but she has a boyfriend Portman!" Fulton protested. He wouldn't allow himself to feel excited over the kiss. It was wrong of him to kiss her back.

"So? She can't care too much about him if she's kissing you" Portman pointed out.

"I guess but the last thing we need is another reason for Varsity to be on our backs" Fulton didn't want his actions to have consequences for the rest of the Ducks.

"What's Varsity got to do with it?" Portman asked. He felt a little uncomfortable talking about hockey with Fulton as it made them both remember he wasn't there to help protect the team.

"Her boyfriend is the captain" Fulton explained.

"Oh, well you've got two choices here. One, go tell him and then act all smug whenever he's watching, it'll drive him insane or two, pretend it didn't happen" Portman suggested.

"I think I'm gonna take number two" Fulton sighed. As much as he'd love to rub it in Rick Riley's face that Tammy wanted him badly enough to kiss him he had other people to think about.

"There is a third option I just thought of" Portman wondered who the hell this varsity character was and why did he have the Ducks, including Fulton, running scared?

"Lets hear it" Fulton replied.

"You could always carry on with her behind his back" Portman paused and waited for Fulton's reaction.

Fulton was stunned. That hadn't even crossed his mind as a possibility. It sounded viable but could he actually do that? Would Tammy want to do that?

"Dude are you still there?" Portman asked when he got no response.

"Uh yeah, um, well I dunno" Fulton was speechless.

"Think about it, it's a win-win situation" Portman replied.

"Yeah but for how long? Someone will find out eventually and beside, what if Tammy doesn't go for it?" Fulton couldn't believe he was considering being someone's 'bit on the side'. It was insane!

"What if you explain it to her? Tell her you can't be with her in the open because her jerk-off boyfriend will make life for your friends a living hell. She'll understand, they're her friends too aren't they?" Portman asked.

"Uh, well I dunno about that" Fulton said.

"Huh?"

"Well I think I forgot to tell you that Connie and Julie instigated a full on catfight with Tammy and her friend Bec. It took Dwayne to hose them off, literally I might add, to get them to stop" Fulton explained and rolled his eyes when he heard Portman burst out in hysterical laughter.

"Dude are you serious! Did anyone's top get ripped off?" Portman asked slyly.

"Portman you are a shocker" Fulton scolded.

"What? Don't tell me you didn't think it too. What about this Bec girl? Is she hot?" Portman asked.

"I dunno, she's a figure skater, I guess she's not that bad" Fulton hadn't thought of Bec like that before.

"So is she dating a Varsity player?" Portman asked slyly.

"Sort of, she's been hanging around Banksie a fair bit lately" Fulton replied.

"Oh look out for the cake-eater! I didn't know he was into girls!" Portman joked.

"You are cruel" Fulton replied.

"I know, its why the ladies love me. Treat em mean keep em keen!" Portman declared.

"Dean Portman! I'd better not be hearing you say things like that again young man. I raised you better than that!" Fulton cracked up laughing when he heard Mrs Portman tell her son off in the background.

"Yes mom" Portman replied.

"Dude I'd better go anyway. I might take your advice and talk to Tammy though" Fulton decided. It was worth a shot wasn't it.

"Cool, talk to you later man" Portman replied.

"Later" Fulton hung up the phone.

* * *

"Bec you are such a dag!" Tammy laughed as Bec did an extremely dodgy version of the running man dressed in Tammy's formal gown with her trainers.

"I know its why you love me!" Bec declared swirling around in the dress.

"Why the hell did you bring this thing anyway?" Bec asked lifting up the skirt and dropping it again.

"Mother packed it, thought there'd be some sophisticated parties going on around here" Tammy rolled her eyes.

"Hmm, no offence but your mother is severely delusional" Bec replied taking the dress off and returning it to its hanger.

"You have no idea!" Tammy replied.

"You know I just came up with the solution to your problem!" Bec declared.

"And what's that?" Tammy asked.

"Well, since Rick is kinda nice and all to us but really mean to other people sometimes. Don't look at me like that I saw what he did to that Asian kid on the JV team yesterday. Anyway what's the harm in having both guys you want?" Bec suggested.

"Bec! I can't do that!" Tammy exclaimed.

"Why not? If its good enough for guys then its good enough for girls" Bec replied.

"You are such a guy sometimes" Tammy couldn't believe what her friend was suggesting.

"Ooookay" Bec chose to ignore the last comment.

"Lights out girls" their RA advised through the door.

"Goodnight Bec" Tammy ended the conversation.

"Well think about what I said. Goodnight!" Bec flicked her lamp on and turned the main light off as they got ready for bed in silence.

Tammy couldn't get Bec's suggestion out of her head.

_Could I really do that?_ She wondered.

* * *

**I'm sorry its been so long since I updated!**

**HOLLY - nice Clueless reference (if that's what you were meaning by 'two enthusiastic thumbs up' - if not nevermind my rambling brain!) thanks for the review.**

**GALINDAPOPULAR - yeah I decided to make Tammy a little boy-dumb in this one. But she has Bec to guide her at least. Thanks for the review.**

**HIDING IN THE SHADOW - Bec may just develop a sudden memory on the dragon thing and Banks might just have to endure it! I agree damn morals, Ducks can be bad you know (stupid Disney making them all goody goody!) **

**SILVERRAIN1.3 - ha, Bitchy McBitch, love it! **

**TORITHY - yeah Tammy is being kinda stupid, I hope she gets over it soon! **

**KIWIFLEA - thanks for your review, I was inspired by Princess H's fics (she has a fantastic Tammy/Fulton one)**


	14. Amusing Adam

Adam Banks arrived at his locker the next morning to find a handwritten note in it together with a folded piece of cardboard.

_See I told you I saw Santa riding a dragon!_

He read the note and realised that it was Bec who left it.

Smiling to himself he picked up the cardboard and opened it. He immediately burst out laughing when he saw what Bec had done.

On it was a cutout picture of Santa Claus riding the dragon from the Eragon movie poster and in the bottom corner was a photo of Bec's head glued on top of her hand drawn body pointing up at the dragon and its unusual choice of passenger.

"What's so funny Banks?" Scooter arrived at the locker to find his teammate looking at a piece of paper and laughing hysterically.

"Oh just something Bec did" Adam showed him the cardboard.

"She's a character alright" Scooter didn't understand what the drawing was meant to represent, or why Adam found it so hilariously funny.

"I'll say" Adam replied smiling to the picture.

"So you like her then?" Scooter asked slyly.

"She's okay" Adam replied not sure how he was feeling about the girl who made him laugh.

"You think she likes you?" Scooter pressed on.

"I dunno, I suppose" Adam replied wanting Scooter to shut up.

"I say go for it man. I'm gonna go for it with Julie" Scooter replied.

"Right and how do you propose to do that? You're not a part of her favourite people right now" Adam reminded him.

"Not yet but I will be" Scooter grinned.

"Alright but its your funeral, she's not exactly all that forgiving you know" Adam replied but Scooter wasn't listening. He'd just caught sight of his golden goddess.

"Hi Julie" Scooter waved with a goofy grin on his face.

"Drop dead asshole" came the icy reply.

"Ouch!" Adam patted his friend on the back.

"Its cool, at least she didn't ignore me!" Scooter brightened up and followed Julie down the hall with a wave back at Adam.

"He's hopeless" Adam shook his head and placed Bec's present back in his locker.

* * *

"So, you ate ice pretty hard this morning" Bec commented to Tammy as they sat in the locker room unlacing their skates.

"Yeah had a rough night, that combined with coaches impossible routines, I'm surprised I can still walk" Tammy replied sighing. It had not been her best morning.

"Look the sooner you talk to him the better you'll feel" Bec replied releasing her hair from its ballerina bun.

"I know but what do you want me to say? Hey how you doin' wanna be my bit on the side cos I can't choose who I want?" Tammy replied putting on a fake sleazy voice.

"It could work" Bec grinned slyly.

"You are so horrible!" Tammy threw her warm up jacket at Bec.

"You got that right"

The girls looked up to see that a sneering Connie and Julie had just entered the locker room with their gear in hand.

"Mmm hmmm" Bec replied not bothering to bite back. She felt they weren't worth the effort anymore.

"What no witty comebacks?" Connie challenged.

"Not for you, wouldn't dream of wasting my breath on someone like you" Bec replied shoving her gear into her bag and flashing a toothy grin at the pair before heading out the door with Tammy in tow.

"Have a nice day" Tammy replied throwing them an equally fake grin as she followed Bec outside.

"Whatever" Connie grumbled and threw her bag down in the same spot Tammy had been occupying only a few moments ago.

* * *

Tammy and Bec were walking down the corridor that led to the rink's exit when they saw a tall dark familiar figure exiting Coach Orion's office.

"Is that Fulton?" Bec asked Tammy.

"Yeah, he came back!" Tammy replied smiling.

"Tam's you're drooling" Bec joking placed her hand under Tammy's chin and closed her mouth for her.

"I am not" Tammy protested.

"So are you gonna go talk to him?" Bec nudged her friend forward in the direction of Fulton

Fulton shook hands with Orion and received a stern _don't ever pull a stunt like that again or you wont come back_ speech.

"Yes sir" Fulton replied and the coach left him to get dressed and hit the ice for practice.

"Hey" Tammy walked up to him with a big prod from Bec.

"Hi" Fulton replied shyly. He suddenly remembered the conversation he'd had with Portman.

"So you're back in then?" Tammy asked hoping Orion let him back.

"Yeah, I have to be on the ice in ten minutes to complete about a million laps though" Fulton replied grimacing.

"Ouch, sounds like fun" Tammy said sarcastically.

"Yeah I know, look I have something I want to run by you. Are you free later?" Fulton asked wondering where the suggestion had come from. He mentally cursed his brain for betraying him.

"Yeah, I have a free after lunch" Tammy replied knowing Rick would want to see her at lunch time. She was definitely not looking forward to that.

"So do I, lets meet say, at the front gates?" Fulton said knowing no one would be near there around that time.

"Sounds good, see you then" Tammy replied grinning like an idiot.

"Okay bye" Fulton had the same grin on his face.

Bec smiled and shook her head. Those two were hopeless.

* * *

"Hey Banks" Bec said taking a seat next to the Varsity player at the lunch table. It wasn't common practice for a girl who wasn't dating a player to sit with the team but since Tammy was dating Rick, they allowed Bec to join them regularly.

"Hey, thanks for my present" Adam laughed at her.

Several players tuned into their conversation obviously getting the wrong idea about Bec's 'present' to Adam.

"Anytime" Bec replied wondering why every pair of eyes at the table was watching her and Adam.

"Hey everyone" Scooter had arrived at the table and had sunk down in the seat opposite Bec.

"Why are you looking so pleased with yourself?" Bec asked.

"Oh no don't get him started!" Brad Labine, a player on the team, spoke.

"She touched me!" Scooter grinned at Bec.

"Julie?" Bec asked.

"My goddess!" Scooter replied.

"Slapped him was more like it" Brad informed the table.

"She slapped you?" Bec asked.

"Yes but she voluntarily placed her hand on my skin, it was awesome!" Scooter said not caring how much of a tool he was sounding like.

"Erm okay, good for you" Bec replied wondering where her 'normal' friend had disappeared to.

"So are you coming to the game tomorrow night?" Adam asked Bec.

"Yeah, why not" Bec replied knowing that she'd probably be watching that game alone.

"Hi everyone" Tammy had arrived at the table and was greeted with a chorus of

"Hi Tammy"

She sat next to Bec and before she could say anything she was spun around by Rick and had a soft kiss placed on her lips.

"I missed you" Rick said as he sat down next to her.

"Hi, um I missed you too" Tammy lied.

Bec and Adam exchanged a glance. Adam had a feeling that something else was going on here but he'd ask Bec about it later.

"Good answer" Rick smiled kissing her again.

"Hey look the lone Bash Brother's back" someone at the table said and Tammy looked across to the Ducks table where Fulton was engaged in a conversation with Guy Germaine.

"Well we'll just have to welcome him back then won't we?" Rick replied in a tone that made Tammy's skin crawl.

_Maybe Bec was right, maybe Rick is an asshole when I'm not around._

* * *

**_GALINDAPOPULAR - I thought Portman's perspective was needed, and his mother was just a bonus!_**

**_HIDING IN THE SHADOW - I hope the picture in the locker will suffice, I tried making something up but got nowhere! _**

**_HOLLY - thanks for the review, I heard KISS' "God Gave Rock & Roll To You II" (from the Bill & Ted movies) the other day and thought of your review!_**

**_TORITHY - I'm sure he'll get past it, he wants her and she wants him but they don't want the trouble that'll go with it! Wonder how they're gonna get away with that one though!_**

**_SILVERRAIN1.3 - yeah Portman's my favourite too, had to include him. _**

**_NIKKIP - I actually hated Tammy Duncan when I first saw the movies (she makes weirdo facial expressions when Bombay's telling them not to go after the Hawks for what they did to Banks but hit them with the scoreboard 'where it hurts the most') but after reading a few fics on her and Fulton, she's grown on me. Oh god no, I'm well aware of how girls really fight - I just figured an OTT catfight would be better since Connie's been so outwards about hating Tammy. Thakns for the review_**

**_THANK YOU TO ALL WHO REVIEWED, THEY'RE HUGELY INSPIRATIONAL AND GREATLY APPRECIATED!_**


	15. Spying on the Plan

Adam waited until lunch was over before pulling Bec aside.

"Whoah, steady there Banksie, wouldn't wanna disappoint all your other admirers there" Bec joked when he grabbed her arm and dragged her around the corner.

"Oh sorry" Adam was blushing profusely. He realised it probably did look like he was dragging her away to get up to no good.

"It's okay, it might make Cole stop asking me to show him my 'you know whats'" Bec shuddered at the mere thought of Cole. She thought he was disgusting.

"He what!" Adam felt angry.

"Its cool, I told him us figure skaters don't have boobs and the idiot actually believed me" Bec laughed.

Adam shifted uncomfortably. He didn't want to be talking with Bec about her boobs right now.

"Okay so you're all weirded out now, well what did you drag me around here for anyway?" Bec asked.

"What's going on with Tammy and Fulton?" Adam asked.

"Geez Banks you're straight to the point aren't you" Bec stalled. She knew she could trust him but she was making sure no other prying ears were around listening.

"Bec, I know you know what's going on" Adam placed his hands on his hips. Bec smirked at the girly stance he was taking.

"You do now do you" Bec waited until the rest of the student population had passed to go to their classes before she grabbed Adam's hand and made a run for it.

"Come on, we're ditching" she said pulling him along behind her.

"Where are we going?" Adam asked.

"You wanna know what's going on, well I'll show you" Bec replied.

Adam wasn't sure whether to be scared for his life or relieved.

* * *

"Hi" Fulton said shuffling his feet a little. Even after all of these years he still got nervous around her.

"Hi" Tammy replied feeling just as shy.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Fulton asked hoping she was going to tell him that she'd decided to dump Rick and date himself in secret.

"You" she said looking at the ground. She was well aware that she was probably the colour of a tomato right now.

* * *

"Are they just gonna stand there and mumble to each other all day?" Banks was growing impatient. Anyone would think he'd been hanging around with Bec for too long.

"I know! You can't leave them to do anything!" Bec replied leaning against Adam to get a closer look.

Adam moved his arm around her to make her more comfortable. Well as comfortable as you can get hiding in grass.

* * *

"What about me?" Fulton was starting to feel a little like Portman.

"I dunno what about you?" Tammy smiled.

Fulton laughed at her joke.

"Look, Fulton I really like you. There I said it" Tammy blurted it out.

"I like you too Tams" Fulton smiled.

"Really?" she smiled back.

"Yep, I told you that the other night" Fulton wanted to reach out and kiss her but he knew he couldn't, not before telling her his plan.

"Oh yeah" Tammy remembered what he'd said to her earlier.

"Look Tams I really like you and I want to be with you and as much as I'd love it if you dumped Rick and went out with me, I can't put the other Ducks in that kind of danger. Ken's already copping it big time and I don't want to make it worse" Fulton explained.

"He's really that awful to you guys isn't he?" Tammy looked down. She couldn't believe she didn't see it sooner.

"Yeah, did he tell you they stiffed us on the dinner last week" Fulton asked.

Tammy shook her head.

"No he said you guys wouldn't let them pay which I thought was kind of weird but I believed him anyway. Damn it I'm such an idiot!" Tammy stomped her foot.

* * *

"Uh oh, she looks mad" Adam moved closer for a better look.

He was painfully aware that his cheek was now touching Bec's.

"No, I think Fulton just told her something she didn't like. Uh oh now she looks really mad" Bec commented.

"Don't blow it Fulton" Adam urged.

"Oh no, I hope he didn't reject her idea" Bec felt guilty since it was her who put the thought into Tammy's head originally.

"What idea?" Adam asked peeling his cheek away from hers to look at her.

"Um well, the idea that he be her dirty little secret" Bec braced herself for the moral lecture from Adam but it never came.

"That's a pretty good idea" he said turning back to watch their friends.

Bec was dumbfounded as she stared open mouthed at him.

_Who is this guy and where is the real Adam Banks?_ She wondered.

* * *

"That's it I'm breaking up with him!" Tammy decided and to her surprise Fulton stopped her.

"You can't" he said.

Tammy stared at him.

"I thought you wanted me?" she asked.

"I do, but I want my friends to be safe also" he reasoned.

"So what do you suggest then?" she thought briefly about what Bec had suggested to her.

"Well, we could see each other still but keep quiet about it" Fulton waited for the slap across the face he had convinced himself was coming.

When he gathered the courage to look at her he was surprised to find her smiling.

"Sounds good to me, but the second you guys beat Varsity in the showdown, I'm dumping him" Tammy informed him.

"Sounds like a plan princess" Fulton smiled leaning down to kiss her on the cheek.

* * *

"Oh my god he totally went for it!" Bec hissed.

"I know! He must really like her" Adam mused wondering what would make Fulton settle for second best.

"Oh come on, you were on the team with him for years and you didn't see it? Damn Adam even blind Freddy could see that!" Bec scolded.

"Blind Freddy huh?" Adam challenged.

"You know what I mean" Bec pushed him.

"Don't push me Bec cos I might just have to push you back" Adam poked her.

Bec responded by pushing him again.

"That's it Carter you're gonna get it!" Adam declared war and pushed her back.

* * *

"What the hell was that?" Tammy asked Fulton upon hearing the noise in the grass. It sounded like it was coming from behind the bushes.

"It sounds like its coming from over there" Fulton looked to where he could see two people rolling around together. He hoped it wasn't anyone who could get them into trouble.

"I'm not sure I want to look" Tammy decided feeling afraid that it was one of Rick's cronies spying on her.

* * *

"Ow!" Adam cried holding his shin. She'd actually kicked him in retaliation.

"Oh my god I'm sorry I didn't mean to kick you that hard" Bec stopped play fighting long enough to sit up and assess the damage.

* * *

"Relax, its just Bec and Banks" Fulton sighed with relief.

"Oh thank god" Tammy replied moving closer to Fulton. She had been so worried that she'd been caught out before their plan had even begun.

* * *

**sorry about the chopping and changing, I just thought it needed both perspectives.**

**GALINDAPOPULAR - I figured Scooter had to be extremely persistant if he kissed her in the movie. I'm glad you like Bec, I was worried people would think she was an idiot or something.**

**SILVERRAIN1.3 - see comment above re: Scooter, I'm glad you're liking how I'm writing it. **

**MY TWO LOYAL REVIEWERS - THANK YOU!!**


	16. Distractions

"I don't think I can play hockey ever again" Banks whimpered.

"Oh my god I am so sorry!" Bec fussed over his leg. She was too absorbed in feeling guilty that she didn't notice the smirk that had crept across Adam's face.

"Oh the pain!" Banks continued his charade.

"Here let me see" Bec lifted up his pant leg but paused when she saw nothing out of the ordinary.

"You're not bleeding" Bec peered up at him and immediately saw what was going on.

Adam Banks was the worst liar she'd ever met. That was one of the things she liked about him.

"You are so going to pay for that!" Bec resumed their war by jumping on him.

* * *

"Is there something going on between them?" Fulton asked when they saw Bec jump on Adam.

"I have no idea, Bec's a little wacko though" Tammy smiled glad that her best friend was having fun.

"Yeah but Banks isn't" Fulton pointed out. He'd never seen the star player so _normal_ before. Usually all he thought about was school and hockey but not in that order.

"True but her influence does rub off on people" Tammy replied. She was glad Bec was forgetting about her stupid ex-boyfriend back in California. Banks was a much better match for her.

"Is that so?" Fulton challenged.

"Fulton don't you dare!" Tammy screamed and tried to make a run for it.

Fulton just laughed and took off after her.

* * *

"What was that?" Bec stopped tickling Adam and sat up.

"Oh no you don't" Adam thought her pause was a ploy to get the upper hand on him.

"Nah seriously, ha ha ADAM!" Bec was extremely ticklish, a fact that Adam had just learned and was using it to his advantage.

"FULTON!" they heard Tammy's scream.

"What the hell is he doing to her?" Bec tried to get a better look. She didn't think to stick her head up above the bush, hence she was currently trying to look through it.

"You know they have no idea about keeping things on the down low" Adam watched his former team mates chase each other in an extremely loud fashion.

"And you do?" Bec challenged.

"Yes I do" Adam replied feeling brave. He couldn't help it; her attitude had rubbed off on him.

"OUCH!" he yelped when Bec reached out and pinched him on the leg.

"Yep, you're so stealthy" Bec rolled her eyes.

"You are in so much trouble now" Adam made his move.

* * *

"Tams, this is what you'd call drawing attention to ourselves" Fulton clamped his hand over her mouth.

"Oops" Tammy replied but because of Fulton's hand the sound came out muffled.

"Do you want to go somewhere less populated?" Fulton asked realising they were still on school grounds where anyone could just walk by them.

"Yeah" Tammy agreed taking his hand.

* * *

"Where'd they go?" Bec stopped the tickle fight again when she realised they were alone.

"Huh?" Adam pushed his hair out of his eyes and sat up.

"Tammy and Fulton. Where'd they go?" Bec repeated her question and looked around again.

"Beats me" Adam too was looking again.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? Banks finally grew a dick and scored a figure skater"

The pair turned around to find themselves face to face with Cole and a couple of the other varsity players.

"He sure did, and wow! I certainly won't need another hockey player for quite a while" Bec blurted out as she moved closer to Adam and kissed his cheek.

_Hey might as well give him a good reputation_ she thought cheekily.

Poor Adam looked mortified.

"Come find me when you want a real man" Cole scoffed and promptly turned around to leave.

"I already have a real man" Bec yelled after him.

"What did you do that for?" Adam whined when they left.

"Oh relax will you, no one will say you're gay anymore" Bec replied.

"People say I'm gay?" Adam was horrified.

"No but they won't now!" Bec grinned evilly.

"I hate you" Adam pouted. Yes he actually pouted!

"No you don't" Bec stood up.

"You're right, no I don't" he also stood up and they headed back towards the school.

* * *

"You know for a dingy alley this is pretty romantic" Tammy said laying her head on Fulton's shoulder.

"Who said I was romantic?" Fulton mocked. Sure he had a reputation as a Bash Brother but in all truth, he'd do anything that Tammy Duncan asked him to do.

"Me" Tammy leant up and gave him a kiss that he readily accepted.

They should have been feeling guilty about what they were doing, after all it was supposed to be wrong wasn't it?

The truth was, it felt so right to them. Besides Tammy wasn't exactly thinking about Rick at all.

* * *

Rick Riley was wondering where his girlfriend had disappeared to.

Word had gotten around that Banks was getting some from the other figure skater and he was feeling left out. Sure he was getting some from Mindy, but she didn't count. Everyone got some from Mindy.

He was pretty sure the Latino kid was after some from Mindy and he hoped to god she wasn't low enough to go with a _Duck_.

That word was enough to send shudders down his spine. He loathed everything about them, even the two female Ducks.

_Speak of the devil_ he thought bitterly as he saw the enemy walking down the hallway.

_Good they look uncomfortable_ he smiled when he saw the tear roll down the pretty brunette's face.

_What a damn shame she's a Duck, she's got a bit of spunk in her _he thought back to the dawn battle and how she'd wanted to take a swing at him. The other one had a bit of fight in her too, but Scooter seemed obsessed with her. If it was supposed to be kept a secret from him then he wasn't doing a good job. Especially when he went all googly eyed at the goalie ever time they had a 'meeting'.

"Should we call Fulton and Charlie? I mean it would be nice to let them know" the red-haired kid was speaking.

"They left us remember! Now Hans has left us too. We should have never accepted these scholarships, its only made things worse" the brunette snapped back and Rick's ears pricked up in interest.

_Hans? Wasn't he the old man who was with them in the Goodwill Games final?_ Rick thought. _No, that guy was named Jan. Hans? Oh right, the skate shop owner. Oh this is just brilliant!_ He thought with glee.

"So when's his funeral?" the blond kid asked pushing his hat down low on his forehead.

_Hasn't anyone told that kid the hat looks ridiculous?_ Rick scowled.

"Friday" the goalie answered. She too was crying.

Rick felt like scum. As much as he hated the Ducks he wasn't going to attack them when they were grieving for a friend. It was like kicking a puppy after it had been hit by a car. Not that he'd ever kick a puppy in the first place, he wasn't that heartless.

Which was why he was going to tell his team to lay off the Ducks until after the showdown.

* * *

**wow Cakeeater's come out of his shell!**

**GALINDAPOPULAR - I'm liking Bec & Adam's friendship, not sure if it'll become more though. Tammy & Fulton are hopeless aren't they!! **

**ALCOHOLZ - thanks for your nice review!! **

**TORITHY - Someone will bust them next chapter (wonder who it'll be!!) I hope Varsity get their asses handed to them too!**

**HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO - someone will tell her eventually. Charlie and Fulton don't even know yet.**

**HIDING IN THE SHADOW - I hate it when the internet plays up, you find yourself becoming increasingly bored without it (well since I'm stuck at a desk for 9 hours a day, internet is a godsend sometimes!) I hope it fixes itself up cos I'm really adoring your fic (and Teresa Adair, she's so damn cute!). Thanks for your review.**

**THANKS TO ALL WHO REVIEWED!**


	17. Funerals & Kisses

"What's wrong?" Tammy asked the following morning when she met up with Fulton before school.

"I had a call last night, Hans passed away" Fulton said sadly.

"Oh my god" Tammy covered her mouth. She remembered the gentle soft spoken Scandinavian who'd help the Ducks enormously during their first year.

"Funeral's today" Fulton said.

"That sucks, how's Charlie taking it?" Tammy asked knowing that Hans was like a grandfather to Charlie.

"I don't know, he won't return any ones calls" Fulton admitted.

"That well then" Tammy replied squeezing his hand.

"Can you come today?" Fulton asked. He really wanted her there with him.

"Would it be okay? I mean with Connie and Julie there" she said cautiously. She didn't want to step on any one's toes and they were meant to be keeping their little affair a secret.

"You could stand in the back. They'd never know. I'd just feel better knowing you were there that's all" Fulton admitted. Why was he acting all girly all of a sudden? Oh well its Tammy so its okay.

"Okay I'll go" she said kissing his cheek.

* * *

"So the funeral's today huh?" Bec asked as she watched Adam straighten his tie.

"Yeah" he hung his head.

"If its any consolation you'll be the cutest prep in a suit" Bec said fixing his collar.

"Cutest?" he enquired.

"What do you want me to say? Manly? Cos you know that would just be a lie" Bec grinned.

Adam's response was to just roll his eyes.

"Well at least people don't think I'm gay right?" he responded after some thought.

"Right, cos apparently you're sleeping with me. So tell me, was I any good?" Bec grinned and then winked.

"The best Bec" Adam played along with her joke. She was possibly the only girl on the planet who would be cool with this.

"Damn straight!" Bec replied laughing.

"So come on, I have to go now" Adam looked at the time.

"Okay, let me walk you to the cab" Bec offered knowing the Ducks were still mad at him.

"Thanks" Adam was genuinely pleased he had at least one friend who was willing to stand by him.

* * *

"So I'll see you there then?" Fulton asked hopefully.

"Yeah, I'll be the one in the back trying not to be noticed" Tammy replied kissing his cheek.

"Thanks Tam, this means a lot" Fulton kissed her back.

"I know"

"Will you look at this, the Bash Bro and the 'New Babe'"

Tammy and Fulton whipped around to come face to face with Jesse and Terry Hall.

"Jesse? Terry? OH MY GOD!" Tammy squealed and hugged the pair of them.

"Hey Tam, jeez if I knew I'd get this kind of welcome I would have visited you ages ago" Terry joked. He remembered when he had a crush on the blond figure skater. Obviously she was now with the Bash Brother.

"So you and Fulton huh? GEE I NEVER saw that coming!" Jesse was still the sarcastic bugger he always was.

"Jess you have to keep quiet about that. No one can find out, yet" Tammy pleaded.

"Why?" Terry was puzzled.

"Long complicated story, lets just say the safety of the Ducks is on the line" Fulton explained.

"Cool your secrets safe with me man" Jesse knocked fists with his friend.

"Oh and Jess? Ter?" Fulton began. He figured he had a right to know.

"Yeah?"

"Um, Hans is gone, his funeral's today at the Gardens if you want to come, it starts in an hour" Fulton offered.

Jesse and Terry looked stunned.

"Thanks Fulton" they said solemnly.

"You boys can come with me" Tammy offered feeling better she'd have some friends to stand with.

"Okay" the Hall brothers agreed.

"Come on, I've got to get to school" Tammy dragged Jesse and Terry with her despite their protests of not going to no prep school.

"Its only for five minutes" Tammy told them.

"Oh alright!" the Hall boys were defeated.

* * *

"I'd say have fun but it's a funeral" Bec said when they got to the cab.

"Yeah" Adam said softly reminding himself that it was a funeral.

"So come see me when you get back" Bec suggested.

"I will" Adam promised.

He surprised them both by giving her a hug followed by a soft kiss on her lips.

"Thanks Bec, you're amazing" Adam said trying not to turn red from embarrassment. Plus he was hoping she wouldn't kick his ass for kissing her.

"I know" was all she said using that cheeky smirk of hers.

"See you later" she ordered him into the taxi.

"Bye" was all he said before the door closed and he was taken away.

* * *

"Did you hear from Charlie?" Connie asked hopefully as Fulton approached the Ducks.

"No, did you?" Fulton relied.

"No" Connie said sadly.

"He'll be there. He wouldn't miss it" Fulton offered.

"I hope you're right" Connie replied.

"Come on its time to go" Guy interrupted and the Ducks made their way to the funeral to pay their last respects to a dear friend.

* * *

"Tammy I need help. Um hello" Bec stopped short when she saw two strange boys in her room.

"Bec this is Jesse and Terry, they're friends of mine" Tammy introduced the Halls.

"Hi" Bec said and the two boys said hi back.

"Um Tam? Why are you dressed like Morticia Addams?" Bec asked spying Tammy's all black attire.

"I'm going to Hans' funeral" Tammy replied.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? I won't be there to have your back if trouble starts" Bec warned.

"Fulton asked me to and Terry and Jesse are going to accompany me" Tammy explained.

"Trouble starting?" Jesse asked.

"Long story, Connie and Julie decided they wanted to fight me and Bec, the cowboy one had to hose us off" Tammy admitted.

"Damn, I should have taken that scholarship" Jesse smacked his forehead.

"Pig" Tammy laughed then remembered Bec's first statement when she walked in.

"What do you need help with?" Tammy asked.

"Banks kissed me" she said.

"He what?" Tammy was grinning. She knew it was only a matter of time before they would become more than friends.

"He. Kissed. Me" Bec repeated punctuating each words just in case Tammy missed the point again.

"Cake-Eater kissed a girl? Wow, we all thought he'd turn out gay" Jesse grinned.

"Not helping" Bec told him.

* * *

**so I gave into temptation and made Adam kiss her and I didn't think it was fair that Jesse and Terry didn't get to go to the funeral, now they do!! **

**GALINDAPOPULAR - I always thought it was sad but then I wondered how Julie, Luis, Dwayne, Ken, Russ & Portman (even though he wasn't there) knew Hans because it was JAN who helped them at the Goodwill Games (remember he called Hans a "Strudel Head"?) Yes I know how you feel about Rick & Connie, personally I thought they worked (and people liked my story when I put them together so we're not alone on that front).**

**HIDINGINTHESHADOW - I know I said they'd just be friends but I couldn't help it! And Rick's not the 'kick a puppy' kind of heartless (I just couldn't make him that mean, plus Varsity did leave them alone after the dawn match, unless you count the scholarship thing, which was technically a Board thing and not a prank). Plus I hate anyone who could kick a puppy!! Glad your internet's working again.**

**THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS!**


	18. Just Go With the Flow

The funeral went pretty much like Tammy expected. Fulton stood with the Ducks and Charlie stood apart from them. It was nice having Terry and Jesse there with her. They each held one of her hands throughout the proceedings. She almost burst into tears when Bombay stopped by holding Hans' old hockey jersey. The original Ducks hockey jersey. More than one person was struggling to hold their tears back when he said the now immortal words.

"Every time you touch the ice, remember that it was Hans who taught us how to fly"

Every now and then Fulton would turn around and wink at her for which she was grateful. She wanted nothing more than to run up to him and throw her arms around his neck but she knew she couldn't. There was more at stake here than herself and Fulton. She had to think about the other Ducks too.

Her attention was drawn to Charlie who gave Bombay a death glare before storming away. Tammy felt sorry for his mother who looked pained. No doubt she'd been copping all of Charlie's anger lately.

"Come on, lets go knock some sense into him" Jesse whispered into her ear.

She nodded and followed him and Terry over to the bench where Charlie now sat with his head in his hands.

Before Jesse could even open his mouth he was cut off by Charlie's.

"Go away Bombay"

Jesse grinned at Terry who nodded.

"Dude, you obviously in the wrong hood" he began. Terry grinned. He knew this speech.

Charlie's head whipped up but he wasn't happy.

"Whatever they've told you to say to me it's not going to work. The Ducks are dead Jesse, you of all people should know that" Charlie spat.

"Since when am I some bitch errand boy?" Jesse matched Charlie's tone.

_The nerve of that jackass_ Jesse thought angrily. Charlie needed a huge wake up call before someone physically knocked the hockey back into him.

"Who knows Jesse, I don't know you at all these days" Charlie answered.

"Doesn't seem like you know yourself either" Terry spoke up.

"And what would you know Terry?" Charlie stood up.

"Easy Conway, don't make me do something I really don't want to do" Jesse warned. Nobody, including his friends, messed with his little brother.

Tammy was staring bug-eyed at the whole scene. Had the Ducks really become like this?

Whatever happened to 'Ducks Fly Together?'

She looked around for the others, maybe a gang up would work. Deep down though she knew it wouldn't help at all.

The only person that could help Charlie now was Charlie.

And maybe Bombay.

* * *

"Hey" Adam said softly upon finding Bec in the cafeteria by herself.

Bec nearly dropped the magazine she was flipping through.

"Hi" she said just as softly.

Adam frowned. Clearly the dynamic wasn't right between them.

"Can I sit?" he asked.

Bec nodded.

_Oh boy this is going to be harder than I thought_ Adam thought feeling his throat starting to constrict with nerves.

"How was it?" she discarded the magazine.

"How was what?" Adam was caught off-guard.

"The funeral" Bec was looking at him confused.

"Oh, um well, Charlie stormed off, Julie and Connie cried and then Bombay showed up and not necessarily in that order" Adam reported.

"Sounds like fun" Bec was starting to feel a bit more at ease as they slipped further and further back into their old routine.

"Oh yeah it was a barrel of laughs, and then a clown came out and made balloon animals for us" Adam knew Hans wouldn't take this as a mockery of his funeral, if he knew Hans the way he thought he knew him then Hans would be patting him on the back and telling him it was about time he came out of his shell and had some fun.

"Damn, and I missed it!" Bec smiled.

Adam matched her smile.

But there was still something that was unresolved.

He dropped his gaze for a moment before inhaling deeply.

"So about before" he began.

Bec's smile drooped slightly. She didn't know how to explain how she was feeling about that.

Adam cleared his throat and continued when she didn't respond.

"Um, well I like you" he explained.

"I like you too" Bec thought she'd better have some input before he got the wrong idea.

"I'm not very good at this" Adam laughed nervously.

"Neither am I" Bec replied thinking about her track record. She was so glad that she hadn't returned Jason's (the ex) call from her first practice session. Hopefully he'd gotten the hint she was over him.

"So then what do we do?" Adam was confused. He still wasn't sure what they were. Did he call her his girlfriend? A friend?

"How about we just do what feels right and go from there" Bec suggested. She'd decided to throw all caution to the wind this time and just go with the flow. She knew her problem with past relationships was that she thought about things too much.

"Sounds good to me" Adam smiled and moved closer.

"This feels about right to me" he said and kissed her again.

"I agree" Bec replied happily accepting the kiss.

* * *

"Well that was eventful" Fulton sighed as he threw his suit jacket to the side and immediately loosened his tie.

"It wouldn't be a Duck event if it weren't" Tammy pointed out.

"I know but couldn't he have just save the bullshit until after the funeral? I mean, it was supposed to be about Hans' life and we all know he'd be thoroughly disappointed with all of us if he saw what is going on" Fulton said slumping in his chair.

"Well then we'll just have to ensure Bombay saves the day again" Tammy sighed sitting next to him.

Fulton leaned across and pulled her to him.

"We'll work on that later" he said kissing the tip of her nose.

"Agreed" Tammy replied kissing his lips in return to which Fulton happily obliged.

* * *

**okay so I gave in and made Adam and Bec be together. Sorry for the lack of updates, haven't been in the mood lately.**

**GALINDAPOPULAR - The writers have a lot to answer for, did they really think the viewers would be that stupid (so many things unexplianed in Duck land, oh well, that's what fanfictions for I guess)**

**HIDING IN THE SHADOW - There's something oddly girly about Adam that just makes him a prime target for those comments, I couldn't resist it!**

**GOLDENBABE - thanks for the comments, I have written a Connie/Rick fic previously, its called "Maybe Later?" and there's one that Galindapopular has done.**

**THANKS FOR REVIEWING SORRY AGAIN ABOUT THE DELAY**


	19. Apologise

"Banks?"

Adam whipped his head around and was stunned to find the entire Duck clan, minus Charlie of course, staring back at him.

"Um, hi?" Adam was unsure of what it was they wanted. _At least they don't look hostile_ he thought.

"We're sorry" Connie blurted out looking like someone who had just told the world's worst secret.

"You are?"" Adam was surprised. He'd just been getting used to be treated like a leper. He found his newly formed relationship with Bec to be all he needed lately.

"Yeah we are. _I am_" Connie replied. Julie was at her side and she too nodded her agreement.

"Okay" Adam replied.

"Listen man, we're working on getting Charlie back to the team, we want you back too. If you want to that is" Fulton announced the reasoning behind this group apology.

"Of course I do. Varsity wasn't my idea if you recall" Adam replied feeling a little bit of Bec's sarcasm creeping into his own mannerism. He couldn't say it was a bad thing.

"We know. Listen Bombay is working on Charlie as we speak but how about a game of street puck at the old park?" Guy now spoke up.

Adam could barely contain his grin.

"Sure" he replied, then thought about Bec. "But I just need to speak to someone first. Can I meet you guys in about half an hour?" he asked.

The group looked a little confused as to who he could possibly need to talk to but nevertheless agreed.

"Sure Banks, we'll meet you out front" Connie smiled the first genuine smile directed at Adam in weeks.

"Ok" Adam agreed then took off in search of Bec.

* * *

"Hey there beautiful"

Tammy smiled as she felt a pair of hands covering her eyes.

"Hey there yourself" she spun around and lifted the hands only to find herself face to face with Rick.

She managed to recover from her shock quick enough to keep the smile plastered to her face.

"I'm sorry we haven't been able to spend much time together lately, hockey has been crazy" Rick apologised running his hands down her arms to finally entwine his fingers with hers.

"Its okay, skating has been a little crazy too. New program and all" Tammy half lied. The truth was she hadn't even noticed that Rick had been absent for a few days.

"Well I'm about to make it up to you anyway" Rick smiled leading her out of building and over to the carpark.

Tammy weighed her options. She could protest and say she had things to do but that would arouse suspicion and may ultimately blow the entire plan. On the other hand she could go along with it and pretend everything was fine.

_God why do I let myself get into these situations?_ She silently asked herself.

"Really?" Tammy chose the second option and batted her eyelashes at Rick. _Well at least he's not bad to look at_ she decided watching him smile at her again.

"Really" Rick replied leading her to his car.

* * *

"You okay there Fulton?" Julie asked watching the expression on Fulton's face as he watched Rick and Tammy cross the student parking lot hand in hand.

"Yeah I'm fine" Fulton replied clenching his jaw when he saw Rick open the door for Tammy, stopping her momentarily to kiss her before she was allowed entrance to the vehicle.

"If you need to talk" Julie patted his arm letting him know she was there for him.

"I'm fine Julie, really" Fulton tore his eyes away from the expensive car and forced himself to look at his teammate.

"Okay then" Julie seemed satisfied with his answer and let the subject drop.

"Hey guys, question?" Russ interjected into the group's chattering.

The group turned to look at him.

"Who the hell does Banks need to talk to? Its _Banks!_" he asked.

And that started off a flurry of suggestions from the group as to who on earth could warrant their friend's attention.

* * *

"Hello, I wasn't expecting you" Bec opened the door to find Adam on the other side.

"Oh and who were you expecting?" Adam grinned cheekily at her.

"Brad Pitt?" Bec replied innocently causing Adam to laugh out loud.

"Cute, he's got nothing on me" Adam wondered where on earth this new-found confidence had come from.

"If you say so" Bec replied stepping aside to allow the hockey player into the room.

"Oh I say so" Adam grinned and moved forward to kiss her.

"Mmm" Bec allowed herself to be swept away by the kiss.

Adam pulled away but still kept his arms around the skater.

"So the Ducks just apologised to me" he began.

"Really?" Bec raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, apparently they've got this whole plan to get the team back together – including me" he said tucking a stray piece of Bec's hair behind her ear.

"That's awfully nice of them. Do you want to be back on the team?" Bec asked.

"You're the first person to ask me that you know" Adam realised that the Ducks had just assumed he wanted back in. They hadn't bothered to ask him what he wanted.

"Am I? Seems like the obvious question to ask someone in that situation" Bec replied evenly. She knew that the Ducks were Adam's best friends but that was before they turned on him the way they did.

"Yeah I guess it does" Adam trailed off slowly wondering what to make of the situation. He hated being on Varsity, he was basically a benchwarmer. They hadn't even gotten him a letterman jacket when they had their own replaced after the liquid nitrogen incident. He didn't belong with them.

"So you didn't answer the question. Do you?" Bec brought his attention back to the issue at hand.

"I do. Its the only time I'm happy playing hockey. I don't feel like I have to prove myself as a player you know" Adam explained.

Bec nodded "Then do what makes you happy" she told him.

Adam kissed her gently.

"I meant with the hockey situation Banks" Bec laughed.

Adam laughed along with her. "I'm meeting them for a game of street puck in about five minutes" he told her.

"Then go" Bec smiled and kissed him before gently shoving him out the door.

"I'll call you when I get back?" he enquired.

"Yeah" Bec replied giving him one last kiss before instructing him "Go get 'em Banks"

* * *

"So where are we going?" Tammy enquired as Rick navigated the vehicle through the streets of Minnesota.

"It's a surprise" Rick squeezed her hand gently before he let it drop to negotiate a turn.

Tammy turned her head back to look out the window. It was a route she was not familiar with and she couldn't possibly guess what was in store for her.

Rick kept driving for a few more miles until they were out of the town area. He turned off onto a dirt track that led through a heavily wooded area. Tammy stared out the window in awe at the sheer beauty of the natural scenery.

When they finally arrived at their destination she let out an audible gasp. The lake in front of them had to have been the bluest, clearest, most serene thing she'd even seen.

"Here we are" Rick announced shutting off the engine and hurrying out the driver's seat to open Tammy's door for her.

"Its beautiful" Tammy gasped allowing Rick to guide her out of the car. Rick let her go momentarily to retrieve a blanket from the backseat which he then laid over the bonnet of the car before lifting Tammy up to sit on it.

"Not as beautiful as you are" Rick whispered kissing her on the neck.

Tammy tried not to feel guilty as Rick's lips went to work on her ear. _God that feels good_ she thought closing her eyes and relaxing into his embrace.

"This is my favourite spot in the whole world" Rick told her breaking his kisses before it became too much.

_Its hard to hate him when he's being so sweet_ Tammy thought when Rick pulled her down to recline against the car's windshield pressed up against him. He kissed her temple and squeezed her closer to him.

_What am I going to do?_ She thought idly as he continued to stoke her hair with one hand as they looked out towards the lake.

* * *

**I'm so sorry this has not been updated for quite some time. I decided to go back to studying and took on a double degree - in addition to full time work. So basically means I've had NO time to myself whatsoever!! Anyway, I'm hoping to be able to finish these fics off in the coming months. Thanks for being so patient!!**


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